A REVIEW 

OF THE 

FIRST FOURTEEN YEARS 

OF THE 

M, MIMAL HlSIOm Al LIBRAlll 

OF 

SOUTH Natick, Mass. 

WITH THE 

FIELD-DAY PROCEEDINGS 

OF 
1881 — 1882— 1883. 



X. 



A REVIEW 



OF THE 



FIRST FOURTEEN YEARS 



OF THE 



IIPJCAL miAL Hl^IOflI Al LIEFiARI SOCIEH 



OF 



SOUTH Natick, Mass. 



WITH THE 



FIELD-DAY PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



I88I — 1882— 1883. 




SOUTH NATICK, MASS.: 

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY. 
1884. 






OFFICERS 

OF THE 



(II, imwH 



U 



ilirarj Sodetj of Wi 

1884. 



President, George J. Townsend, M. D. 

llee-Presidejit, .... Gu.sT.\vus Smith. 

Recording Secretary, . . Herbert L. Morse. 

Corj'esponding Secretary, . Rev. Joseph P. Sheaee, Jr. 

Treasurer, ...... M. V. B. Bartlett. 

Custodian, William Edwards. 

Librarian, Amos P. Cheney. 

Curator of Natural History, Amorv L. Babcock. 

Board of Directors : 
P'irst five t)fticers, ex officHs, with 
Elijah Perrt. Esq. Mrs. O. Augusta Cheney. 

Almond Bailey. Joshua Parmenter. 

Amory L. Babcock. 



PREFATORY. 



The first field meeting of this Society, for historical work, 
was held April 30th, 1881. The success attending this ex- 
periment led to a second meeting the following year, and the 
third meeting was held on May-Day, 1883. 

The historical matter presented at these meetings was 
considerable in amount and both interesting and valuable. 

A desire was expressed that the proceedings be published 
in book form, and this being made practicable by the liber- 
ality of one of the honorary members, they are here given, 
with some additional matter, together with a sketch of the 
origin and work of the Society. 



A REVIEW 

OF THK 

FIRST FOURTEEN YEARS 

OF THE 

fiisloiical, Mural listoii' iiiiJ Liliran' Mti of M\ Mi 



BY AMOS P. CHENEY, 



South Natick is famous in history as the place where Rev. 
John Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians," founded his first 
town of "praying Indians ;" the place where he did much of 
the work of translating the Bible into the Indian language ; 
and the place where that Bible was first used. It is also 
worthy of note because it contains the only monument 
erected to honor his memory. 

With such an origin and such a record, it is natural to ex- 
pect that among its people there should exist a strong desire 
that some means be adopted for the collection and preserva- 
tion of whatever material there was obtainable, that could be 
of use in recording or illustrating the history of the village 
and its vicinity, including not only all of the present town of 
Natick, but those portions of Sherborn, Dover and Needham 
which were formerly within its limits. 

No doubt there was such a desire ; but during the long in- 
terval from 165 I to 1869, only incHvidual effort was made in 
this direction, except that in 185 1, as the bi-centennial of 
Eliot's coming drew near, some of the more active citizens, 
feeling that it would be discreditable to allow that day to pass 
without some recognition, succeeded in arranging a public de- 



6 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

raonstration, including an address, a dinner, and speeches, 
with music, which program was carried out. 

This meteoric outburst of patriotism seemed to exhaust 
the sentiment. It made a little history, but did very little 
toward preserving history. 

The results of the individual effort already mentioned were 
a few historical discourses delivered by resident ministers 
and afterwards published ; next, a pamphlet history of the 
town, by William Biglow, published in 1830 ; and last, a more 
pretentious history of the town, by Oliver N. Bacon, pub- 
lished in 1856, Messrs. Biglow and Bacon being natives of 
the town. 

In 1869, there became manifest a desire for organization 
for work in this field, those most in earnest making it their 
leading subject of thought and conversation. But their num- 
ber was small, and that was a great obstacle in the way. 

Finally it was suggested that, as there were many in the 
neighborhood strongly interested in natural history, it might 
be practicable, by combining the forces of history and natur- 
al history, to form a society with a membership large enough 
to sustain it. 

This idea was adopted ; and arrangements for a preliminary 
meeting being* made, it was held January 26, 1870, at the 
house of Rev. Horatio Alger, with whom there were present 
Messrs. Oliver Bacon, Elijah Perry, Josiah F. Leach, Austin 
Bacon, Wm. Edwards, Joseph Dowe and Amos P. Cheney. 

Two other meetings were held, February 15, and February 
22, in which Henry S. Edwards, Elijah Edwards, Rev. G. D. 
Abbot, LL.D. ; M. V. B. Bartlett, John B. Fairbanks and 
Dr. Geo. C. Lincoln took part. Others had also signified 
their intention to join. 

At the last meeting there were adopted, a name, a consti- 
tution and by-laws, and the organization was completed by 
electing the following list of officers of "The Historical and 
Natural History Society of South Natick and Vicinity " : 
President, Rev. Horatio Alger ; Vice-President, Rev. Gorham 



A Review of the First Fourteen Years. 7 

D. Abbot, LL.D. ; Recording Secretary, Joseph Dowe ; 
Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Stephen C. Strong ; Treas- 
urer, \Vm. Edwards. These five, ex officiis, with Dr. G. J. 
Townsend, Dr. G. C. Lincohi, Elijah Perry, Esq., C. B. Dana 
and A. L. Babcock, constituted the first Board of Directors. 
Historical Curator, Rev. H. Alger; Natural History Curator, 
\Vm. Edwards. 

The constitution provided that quarterly meetings should 
be held in January, April, July and October ; that of January 
being the annual meeting. 

At the next meeting, the April quarterly, Dr. Abbot read 
a paper upon " The Value of Societies like This of Ours," and 
urged the young people, especially, to join as active members, 
stating that such connection w(juld be of incalculable benefit 
to them. 

A paper entitled " Reminiscenses of Natick " was read by 
Mrs. Dowe. 

The proceedings at the quarterly riieeting in July included 
an address by the president, upon the " Importance of His- 
torical and Genealogical Research," and recommended that 
the Society take up the work of preparing a complete history 
of the town from the first settlement, there being no reliable 
one e.xtant. 

A paper upon "Humming Birds" was next given by Mr. 
A. L. Babcock, of Sherborn. 

The Curator of the Natural History department, Mr. W. 
P^dwards, reported, showing that a good collection of speci- 
mens was already made. This collection had been placed in 
the chambers over his store, in Mr. I. B. Clark's block, the 
use of which he presented to the Society. This rcjiort called 
forth a vote of thanks to that officer, for the efficiency and 
zeal with which he had conducted his work. 

The directors decided to have a course of lectures in the 
latter part of this year, and completed the arrangements in 
season to have the first given September 26, when Professor 
Calvin E. Stowe, a native of this village, spoke upon " New 



8 Historical, Nat. Hist, ajid Lib. Socy of Sotitk Natick. 

England's place in history." Eight other lectures were de- 
livered in the course, which closed December 28. The sub- 
jects treated included history, travels, natural history and 
philosophy, and were much enjoyed. 

The first annual meeting was held January 4, 1871. The 
reports of the officers afforded a gratifying view of the first 
year's work, not onl)^ in the number and character of the 
meetings, the variety, amount and quality of the collections 
in the several departments, but also in the increase in active 
membership, and the number and standing of the honorary 
members. Of the latter many had responded, acknowledg- 
ing the compliment, some offering words of counsel and en- 
couragement, and some contributing more or less to the 
collections and to the treasury. 

The election of officers resulted in the retention of nearly 
all of the first Board, but some of them changed places. 

In 1 87 1, besides the quarterly meetings, at two of which 
addresses were made by members, a course of eight lectures 
was given, the first, by Rev. Dr. Gilbert Haven, upon " To- 
day and To-morrow," October 18, and the last by Dr. Geo. 
B. Loring, upon "American Society," delivered December 12. 

At the second annual meeting, held January 3, 1872, the 
official reports were satisfactory ; there had been a healthy 
growth in numerical strength, and the collections had increased 
to such an extent that the rooms provided by Mr. Edwards 
could not properly accommodate them ; therefore the directors 
had secured from Mr. Clark another room, next to the others. 
This added space made possible a re-arrangement of the whole, 
so that all parts could be easily seen and studied. 

Among the relics were the sounding-board under which 
the Rev. Oliver Peabody preached, the bridal robe and slip- 
pers worn by the bride of Mr. Badger, a portion of the paper- 
hangings which once graced a room in the old mansion of Sir 
Harry Frankland in the present town of Hopkinton, speci- 
mens of the pottery work of the Natick Indians, and many 
other articles having historical associations which rendered 
them precious. 



A Review of the First Fourteen Years. 9 

In the bird collection were many specimens of native but 
not common varieties, also several from foreign countries. 
So also, the insects represented distant lands as well as 
America. 

The library, which was almost wholly given by members 
and friends, included books of history, relating in part to this 
locality, also some works upon sc\cral branches of natural 
history. 

The officers elected at this meeting were, with two or three 
exceptions, the same as of the preceding year. 

In the belief that by the incorporation of tl]e society, some 
greater benefits might be secured, Rev. Horatio Alger, Hon. 
J. \V. Bacon and Rev. G. D. Abbot, were chosen a committee 
to apply to the Legislature for a charter. 

At this meeting also, notices were given of motions to a- 
mend the constitution and by-laws. 

But fortune's smiles were not to be continuous. Marly on 
the morning of March 2, 1872, a fii-e was discovered in the 
basement of the building in which the Society's collections 
were kept, and before the sun rose, the whole edifice, with all 
its contents was reduced to aslies. The old tavern, then 
called the " Eliot House," and several other buildings, includ- 
ing nearly all the business portion of the village, were des- 
troyed in the same conflagration. 

But the Society did not suffer a total loss, for, although 
money could not replace the lost relics, nor the record book 
of donations to the library and museum, which were burned, 
a policy for •*?5oo had been secured through the wise thought- 
fulness of the secretary, Elijah Perry, Esq. ; and with this 
money in hand the work of gathering a new collection was 
begun. 

The name of the postoffice and village having been changed 
to " Elict," the name of the* Society wr.s, at the April quar- 
terly meeting, changed correspondingly. 

The committee on procuring a charter of incorporation, 
reported at this meeting "that a general law had been 



10 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

enacted under which such corporations could be formed 
without special legislation." 

The vice-president then offered the following : " Moved, 
that a committee be appointed to prepare and report all the 
papers necessary to complete our organization under the 
statute providing for the same, and to report such accessory 
papers as may be convenient and desirable for the due presen- 
tation of the state and claims of our Society upon sister 
societies at home or abroad, and to individuals whose co-op- 
eration and aid may be valuable in our future proceedings, 
and to report thereon." 

This motion was adopted without debate, and the mover. 
Rev. Gorham D. Abbot, L.L.D., was chosen that committee, 
but later, Wm. Edwards, Esq., was chosen an additional 
member. 

At an adjourned meeting, held one week later. Art. Ill of 
the constitution was amended by adding a clause providing 
for life membership. 

As the collections made since the fire of March 2 had 
become quite large, Messrs. William Edwards, C. B. Dana 
and Henry S. Edwards were, at the July quarterly meeting, 
chosen a committee to procure and fit up a suitable place in 
which to arrange them. 

When the October meeting was held, Mr. A. L. Babcock 
of Sherborn, a member of the board of directors, gave the 
synopsis of apian of a visit to British Guiana, contemplated by 
himself and wife, for the purpose of studying the natural his- 
tory of the valley of the Demarara river and adjacent country, 
and procuring specimens. He proposed that the society 
advance a sum of money toward the expenses of the trip, and 
receive therefor an equivalent in the form of specimens cf 
natural history from the collections he would bring home 
with him ; and his proposition was accepted. 

Another course of lectures was given this season, opened 
October 16, by Rev. John S. C. Abbott, a brother of the vice- 
president ; and closed by H. H. Lincoln, Esq., one of the 
leading teachers of Boston. 



A Review of the First Fourteen Years. 11 

This was the third course of lectures given under the 
auspices of the Society. As all the talent employed came 
from a distance, there were expenses incurred for each lec- 
ture, even if the lecturer made no charge for his services, 
which was the case in several instances. 

One of the honorary members, H. H. Ilunnewcll, Esq., 
knowing and appreciating the matter of expense, and taking 
a lively interest in the work and success of the organization, 
very kindly presented to the directors a check covering the 
entire cost of each course. 

The third annual meeting was held January i, 1873, and, 
continued by- adjournment, on the seventh. The reports of 
the treasurer, librarian and curator showed the affairs of 
the Society to be in a flourishing condition. 

In view of expected incorporation, some changes were 
made in the constitution and by-laws, after which, the elec- 
tion of officers and committees on the several departments of 
the museum, was in order. 

It soon becoming apparent that all efforts thus far made to 
procure the incorporation of the Society had proved abortive, 
a fresh movement was begun toward the end of January, 
1873, this time under instructions from the State commis- 
sioner of corporations. 

The subscribers to the agreement of association, which 
was dated February i, 1883, met, upon due notice, April 11, 
and again by adjournment, April 14, at which meetings a 
constitution and by-laws were adopted, and a board of officers 
elected, after which, Messrs. Jackson Bigelow, Amos P. 
Cheney and Thomas E. Barry, were chosen a committee to 
present the necessary papers to the commissioner of corpor- 
ations and procure the much desired charter. 

The committee attended to their duty, and in due time the 
certificate of incorporation of the " Historical, Natural 
History and Library Society of South Natick," was received, 
bearing date, April 26, 1873. 

This corporation, although composed of members of the 



12 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

old Society, and designed to take the place of that organiza- 
tion, was, in fact, a new and distinct society, with its own 
constitution, by-laws, ofFxCers and members. 

In May two meetings were held, at which, beside other 
business, a resolution was adopted in relation to the transfer 
of the books, collections and other property of the old 
Society to the new corporation, and it was 

" Voted, That any member of the ' Historical and Natural 
History Society of Eliot and vicinity,' who shall have paid all 
dues to that Society up to April i, 1873, may become a mem- 
ber of this Society by signing its constitution." 

On the second of June following, the Historical and 
Natural History Society of Eliot and vicinity 

''Voted, To transfer the cases, books, collections in natural 
history, together with all other property belonging to this 
Society, to the ' Historical, Natural History and Library 
Society of South Natick,' provided, said Society will assume 
any and all debts and liabilities which this Society may have." 

The new Society held a meeting on the same date, at 
which the above transfer was accepted, whereupon the old 
organization was, by vote, dissolved. 

The first bequest left to the Society was received in the 
summer of this year, from the estate of Prof. John L. Russell, 
late of Salem. 

This accession included about five thousand botanical 
specimens, representing the most of the orders of plants ex- 
cepting ferns, but the collection of mosses, lichens and fungi 
w^ere very large in proportion, and were particularly valuable 
acquisitions, as the donor was a specialist in cryptogamous 
plants, and is still esteemed as an authority upon questions 
in that department of botany. He gave also some six hun- 
dred shells, which formed the chief part of the Society's col- 
lection in that department until 1881. About two hundred 
and fifty specimens of minerals of very choice varieties 
were also included in the gift from Prof. Russell. 

During the summer a "seal" was procured. This seal bears 



A Rcvieiu of the First Fourteen Years. 1 3 

a design representing the apostle Eliot presenting the Bible 
to a group of Indians, while all stand beneath the spreading 
branches of the "Eliot Oak." Below the picture the word 
and date, "Incorporated 1873," are inscribed, and around 
the whole is the name, "Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Soc. 
of So. Natick." 

On November 11, a special meeting was held, at which 
IMr. A. L. Babcock read a paj^er giving a graphic account of 
his experiences during " Six months in South America." 

The annual meeting, the next one held, took place, by 
adjournment, January 21, 1874. 

After the reports of the officers had been rendered and ac- 
cepted, thirty-one honorary members were elected, being the 
same persons who had held that relation to the original 
Society. 

During the year there was greater activity than ever before. 
Nineteen meetings were held, of which twelve were devoted 
to lectures, two were public readings, one was for discussion 
and the others were the regular business meetings. 

The library and museum received considerable accessions, 
among which were books from public departments at Wash- 
ington, many valuable public documents from Hon. Henry 
Wilson, and single volumes from other individuals, beside 
pamphlets and manuscripts, some of which were rare and 
valuable. Some choice birds were presented by Brewster & 
Co. of Boston, two large cases of birds were sent by II. H. 
Hunnewell, Esq. ; and in return for the money advanced to 
Mr. A. L. Babcock, before he went to Jiritish Guiana, he 
brought a large and varied, yet choice collection, including 
mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, shells, botanical and 
mineralogical specimens, also various utensils and ornaments 
of the native inhabitants of that country. 

In the last quarter of this year, there was received a valu- 
able donation from Judge G. W. Clinton of Buffalo, N. Y., 
who sent four hundred and fifty specimens of fungi, carefully 
put up in little packets. This gift was acknowleged by elect- 



14 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

ing the donor an honorary member, at the next meeting. 
Beside these, there were received beads and other ornaments, 
some domestic utensils and also two skulls and other bones, 
with some locks of hair, which are relics of the Natick In- 
dians. They were found in the trench opened through the 
village for the pipes of the Natick water w^orks. Alto- 
gether, the additions were larger this year than during any 
preceding one. 

The year 1875 was a more quiet one than the preceding, in 
the annals of the Society. Beside the quarterly meetings, 
there was a spelling match, — held as an entertainment, April 
27, to raise funds, — which was successful in all respects. 
During the last quarter of the year a course of seven lectures 
and a public reading were given. 

At the close of the year it was found there were five hun- 
dred and twenty bound volumes, and more than one hundred 
unbound volumes and pamphlets, with some manuscripts, in 
the library. There were five hundred and fifteen mounted 
birds and a good assortment of mammals and other classes 
of animal forms in that department of the collections. 

The next annual meeting was held, by adjournment, Jan- 
uary 17, 1876. 

The reports upon the library and museum showed that 
the collections had become so large as to require additional 
room : therefore the directors were instructed to procure 
better accommodations, and also to have five hundred dollars 
additional insurance placed upon the property of the Society, 
making the total qne thousand dollars. 

Early in January, an entertainment was given, under the 
name of " Centennial Hob-Nob," at which a leading feature 
was the presence of quite a company, representing characters 
of Mrs. Stowe's book, " Oldtown Folks," who amused those 
present by rehearsing dialogues, speeches and stories taken 
from that famous book, the scene of which lies mostly in this 
village. This entertainment brought into the Society's treas- 
ury a net profit of more than one hundred and twenty 
dollars. 



A Revteiv of the First Fourteen Years. \h 

The construction of the new Boston water works through 
the town brought to this place several trained engineers, 
who, taking a strong interest in this Society and its work, 
prepared papers upon a variety of scientific subjects, which 
they read at the meetings, thereby contributing much to 
make them attractive and profitable to all who attended. 

Five special, beside the regular quarterly, meetings, were 
held during the year. 

There were two hundred and ten bound volumes, and some 
twenty-five unbound and pamphlets, added to the library ; 
among the latter were some rare old historical discourses 
and documents. The relic and natural history departments 
received some choice and valuable additions. 

There were eight meetings of the society in the year 1877, 
at which eleven papers were read, two of them on local his- 
tory, the others upon the arts and sciences. 

On two occasions there were receptions of c[uite large 
l^arties of visitors, by appointment. One of these, number- 
ing about thirty persons, came from the Normal School at 
Framingham, expressly to inspect the collections made by 
the Society, and did so with a great deal of interest. The 
other party included about one hundred and ten members of 
the Rhode Island Historical Society, from Providence, who, 
beside visiting the rooms of the Society, went about the vil- 
lage to see the old homesteads of the early days, and other 
historic objects, which are still in existence. 

Since this visit, many contributions to library and cabinets 
have been received from members of the party, as well as 
from the Rhode Island Historical Society. Indeed, the lat- 
ter has been a constant, and not infrequent, contributor to 
the library ever since that time. 

Eighty-one bound volumes, forty-one unbound, and twenty 
pamphlets, beside files of the local papers, were added to the 
library during the year 1877. The growth of the other de- 
partments was in fair proportion. 

The year 1878 was a comparatively quiet one, there being 



16 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Soc'y of South Natick. 

but five meetings of the Society. Five papers were read at 
these meetings. 

In March, an entertainment was given on two successive 
evenings, and proved so popular as to return a net profit of 
several dollars to the treasur}^ 

Each department of the museum had more or less acces- 
sions. Several relics were held to be valuable as memorials 
of the very early days of this village. One of these was 
a hand-made wooden mill for grinding the petals of roses, in 
preparing " rose conserve," a favorite sweet-meat in colonial 
times. This mill is believed to be two hundred years old. 

The library had grown to eight hundred and seventy-four 
bound, and one hundred and ninety-four unbound volumes 
and pamphlets ; also the local papers. 

Among the books were a set of Vice-Pres. Henry Wilson's 
"Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America " ; also six 
volumes of " Mass. Colonial Records," presented by Mrs. 
Barden of Newton. 

In 1879 there were five meetings, but only four papers 
were read before the Society. 

Early in January notice was received of the death of James 
Watson Robbins, M.D., of Uxbridge, Mass., and that, in his 
will, he had directed that certain books from his library, and 
a portion of his collections in natural history, should be de- 
livered to this Society, if acceptable. 

The bequest was accepted, and on the loth of May it was 
received. It included a small collection of choice minerals, 
about seventy volumes of valuable botanical books, a large 
number of pamphlets upon special topics of botany, and an 
herbarium comprising thousands of specimens, representing 
the flora of nearly all parts of our country and some portions 
of foreign lands. 

This botanical collection was macie largely in personal visits 
to the places where they grew, as Dr. Robbins made a tour 
of New England, and resided at times in Eastern Virginia, 
in the vicinity of Lake Superior, and in the Gulf States. 



A Rivic^v of the First Fourteen Years. 17 

The other portion was ol)tainecl by exchanges with fellow 
botanists, resident in districts he conld not visit, but with 
whom he had extensive correspondence. This acquisition 
raised the botanical department of the Society's museum 
to the rank of some much older organizations, both in 
amount, variety and quality. 

Beside the foregoing, some donations of birds were re- 
ceived, not only of the species common in our own State, but 
also some from Florida. From Mr. Josiah F. Leach came a 
fine specimen of the fallow deer, from Barnstable County, 
Mass., where a small number still exist in the wild state, 
and from another friend, a life-size bust of Hon. Henry 
Wilson, late Vice-President of the U. S. 

At the April quarterly meeting Mr. E. M. Marshall of 
Natick, read a paper upon " Light and Color," with stereop- 
ticon illustrations by Mr. E. S. Hayes, also of Natick. 

The following action was taken at the July quarterly meet- 
ing : 

" /Li!\w/7'r<'/, That in the opinion of this Society, the cen- 
tennial of Natick's incorporation should be observed by 
appropriate ceremonies, and that this Society will co- 
operate with the town for that purpose." 

This year was an eventful one in the history of the 
Society, but it is necessary to go back a little in order to 
properly state the facts. 

Oliver Bacon, Esq., died, April 3, 1878, at the advanced 
age of eighty one years and six months. He was a native 
and life-long resident of this village, was one of the founders 
and the oldest member of this Society, in the objects and suc- 
cess of which he had ever manifested a deep interest. By his 
will, after giving certain legacies to his several heirs-at-law, 
he gave "all the rest and residue" of his estate, both real 
and personal, to five persons named, but in trust. These trus- 
tees were to erect in South Natick, upon a lot of land assigned 
for the purpose, a fireproof building, at a cost not to exceed 
fifteen thousand dollars, to be called "The Bacon Free 



18 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Soutli Natick. 

Library." This building was to be of such design as to ac- 
commodate the proposed free public library, — for the pur- 
chase, increase, maintenance and care of which, provision 
was made, — and beside that the trustees were instructed to 
assign and fit up, in said building, suitable rooms for the use 
of the Historical, Natural History and Library Society of 
South Natick. 

By this noble bequest, Mr. Bacon provided for the Society 
a permanent home, where its collections could be properly 
arranged both for preservation and examination, and not 
only rent free, but also without cost of money or care in its 
erection, or maintenance, thus enabling the Society to apply 
its entire income to the legitimate objects of its organization. 

But the will was made seven years previous to its publica- 
tion, and of the five trustees named, but two survived the 
testator, and one of these being in Europe, declined the trust. 
A year passed before a full board was organized. Then, as 
the building must be fire-proof, it required about eighteen 
months time to erect it, and it was August, i8So, before the 
work of fitting up the rooms could be commenced. 

The collections of the Society had been arranged in nice, 
glazed, hard-wood cabinets, which had been procured at an 
expense of several hundred dollars, to meet which money was 
borrowed. This debt had been increased by the expenses 
attending the necessary preparation and care of the rapidly 
gathered department of natural history. When the rooms 
in the building were ready to be fitted up, a committee of the 
Society conferred with the trustees, and an appraisal of the 
Society's cabinets was had, the amount of which was paid 
into the Society's treasury. With the money thus obtained 
the Society was able to nearly pay off its debt, and as the 
remainder was furnished at. a reduced rate of interest, the 
prospects seemed bright for the future. 

The new home of the Society was ready for occupancy 
about the first of December, 1880, and the transfer of the col- 
lections was commenced. This work was done by the cus- 



A Rcviciv of tin- First Foiirti-cit Years. 19 

tdclian and the curator of natural history, and it kept them 
busy several weeks. 

On the evening of April twenty-seventh, 1881, the " Bacon 
F'ree Library" building, including both the Library and those 
portions occupied by this Society, was thrown open for 
public inspection, and appropriate exercises of dedication 
were held in the Eliot Unitarian church. 

When the April quarterly meeting took place, it was de- 
termined to have a "field meeting" on the thirtieth of that 
month, and Messrs. Klijah Perry, Joshua Parmenter, Rev. J. 
P. Sheafe, jr.. Rev. Pearse Pinch and M. V. B. Bartlett were 
chosen a committee of arrangements to prepare for it. An 
account of the proceedings on that occasion is appended to 
this sketch. At the October quarterly meeting, it was voted 
to invite the "Veteran Musical Association of Natick," to 
visit the museum of the society, and to hold a public "sing" 
in the Eliot church. It was also voted to provide a collation 
to be served in the vestry after the concert. The invitation 
was accepted and the visit was paid on the first of November, 
when the whole of the Bacon Eree Library building was 
opened to the visitors, of whom seventy-six recorded their 
names and ages in the Society's register. The weather be- 
ing favorable there was a quite large attendance of the mem- 
bers who all enjoyed the occasion very much. As is often 
the case, however, there was cause for sadness at this time 
for, during this meeting, resolutions of respect and con- 
dolence were adopted upon the death of Charles Bigelow, 
Esq., president of the association. The president of this 
Society, Rev. Horatio Alger, was absent, also, from the meet- 
ing, on account of the protracted sickness, from which he 
had suffered for nearly a year. 

President Alger died November 6th, 1881, which was the 
seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth. He was the first pres- 
ident of the Society and held the office by annual re-election, 
until his death. His successor was Geo. J. Townsend, M.D., 
who had been vice-president for several years. 



20 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

There were six meetings during the year 1882. Of the 
two special meetings, one was held February 17th, when a 
double entertainment was given. The first part was in the 
museum, where eight microscopes of large power were in 
position and a variety of objects were shown in each. The 
second part was in Edward's Hall, Merchant's Block, when 
Mr. E. S. Hayes of Natick with his large magic lantern and 
oxy-calcium light, exhibited a large number of beautiful pic- 
tures, including some objects of natural history and amusing 
subjects, but mostly views of scenery in our own country 
and in foreign lands. The second special meeting was a 
May-day field meeting, the second of this kind held by the 
Society. A full report of the proceedings will be found in 
another part of this book. 

A paper upon " The Inchan Grants from the Common 
Lands in 1719," was read at the October quarterly meeting 
by Mr. Horace Mann of Natick, who also displayed a map of 
Natick, on which the location and area of the said grants 
were depicted. 

The additions to the museum during this year were not 
large, but somewhat curious. A white specimen of the gan- 
net, among the birds ; a frog-fish, captured near Peak's 
Island, Portland harbor ; and some curious butterflies from 
South America, were among those of the natural history de- 
partment. A squash presser nearly one hundred years old, 
a basket, made and ornamented with colors by " Old Patience 
Pease," some fifty to sixty years ago, and sundry stone uten- 
sils of Indian make were added to the relics. The library 
was increased by forty-four bound volumes and thirty-four 
pamphlets. 

At the annual meeting held January 9th, 1883, it was de- 
cided to hold another field meeting on the first of May, and 
a committee of five were chosen to arrange a program and 
carry it out. The third field meeting was accordingly held, 
and although the day was windy and rough, there was a large 
attendance, and the exercises passed off satisfactorily, as will 



A Reviczv of the First Fourtcoi Years. 21 

be seen ]^\' the account subjoined. This was the only special 
meeting of the Society held durinij the year ; and at the reg- 
ular stated meetings no papers were read, and only routine 
business transacted. 

Our library contains some nine hundred bound volumes, 
about one hundred unbound, and nearly seven hundred 
pamphlets and manuscripts. Of ma])s and charts there are 
about two dozen, of various sizes, qualities and value. There 
are also nearly complete files of the Natick Bulletin and the 
Natick Citizen, which have been donated by the publishers. 
Of the Boston Daily Journal we have several years issues, 
nearly complete from March, 1861, through 1865, with occa- 
sional numbers of earlier and later dates. There is a file of 
the Norfolk County Gazette, nearly complete through four or 
five years, with less full additional volumes for three or four 
years, all of the Gazettes being presented by Hon. Samuel B. 
Noyes of Canton, Mass., one of our honorary members. 
Beside these, we have many occasional publications, and 
odd numbers of magazines, all of more or less historic value. 

The museum comprises about sixty specimens of mammals, 
and between five and six hundred birds, of which fully one- 
half are from foreign countries. Of reptiles and batrachians 
we have between eighty and ninety specimens, several of 
very rare species. There are less than fifty specimens of 
fishes, of which about one-half are in alcohol. Between two 
and three hundred insects represent that class. The collec- 
tion of shells is a choice one, numbering several hundred 
specimens, of which nearly one-half are named types. Some 
rare specimens of corals and sponges have also been secured. 
In the botanical department the collection, as before stated, 
is very large for so recently organized a society to possess ; 
and it is specially rich in ferns, mosses and lichens. In 
minerals the collection illustrates several departments of 
geology, and includes fragments of stone from many noted 
places in the Old World as well as yXmerica. Of relics and 
curiosities there are many varieties ; but nearly all illustrate 



22 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

the daily life or the character of the persons or the commun- 
ities by whom they were used. The entire collection is one 
that cannot fail to interest every visitor. 

The Society has had singular success as a collector ; and 
its future usefulness can be largely augmented, not by the 
exhibition of its treasures merely, but by using them as illus- 
trations of instructive lectures or talks upon the departments 
of study which they represent. 



FIRST FIELD-DAY 

OF THE 



i'al, lloi'il iista'i 1111(1 Libi'ii'j Mij i M\ MA. 



BY REV. J. P. SHEAFE, JR. 



The Society held its first field meeting May 2d, 1881. 
The purpose of this meeting was to visit certain old Indian 
sites in and about the village, and to note, as opportunity 
might favor, some localities mentioned in Mrs. Stowe's book 
of "Old Town Folks." 

A party of about fifty persons assembled at 1.30 p. m., on 
Pleasant street, near the grave of the Indian preacher, Daniel 
Takawambpait. The inscription upon his gravestone is brief, 
but our grateful memory recalls the fact that the Apostle 
Eliot found him worthy and appointed him to continue the 
good work when his own hand grew feeble and his eye dim. 
A reference to Judge Sewall's Diary states that "Daniel 
Takawambpait was ordained November, 1689, ye first Indian 
minister." From this spot, where the dust of the Indian 
preacher mingles with the earth under our feet, and the 
Eliot monument close at hand speaks of a noble life conse- 
crated to the cause of the red men — from this spot we start 
in search of the places which were once the habitations of 
the sons of the forest. 

The route lay along Pleasant street toward the river ; and 
the first locality of interest was a place where, if "Old Town 
Folks" are to be credited, the Indians always found a warm 
welcome. It was the site of Dea. Badger's' house, which 



1 Keal name, Deacon William Bigelow. 



24 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

stood near the south-east corner of what is now the Library 
grounds. The Indians never called in vain at the Deacon's 
door : they always found some wholesome fare and the inevit- 
able mug of cider. 

The attention of the party was next called to the little island 
which forms the centre of the dam, familiarly known as " Hor- 
ace Holyoke'si study." A few steps farther bring us to the 
canal bridge ; and here, only a few feet from the street, a small 
stone monument is pointed out as marking the place where 
Dea. Joseph Ephraim lived. Dea. Ephraim was an Indian of 
estimable character and Christian virtues, who served the 
church as one of its deacons during the ministry of Parson 
Lothrop^ of " Old Town Folks." Continuing the route up 
Glen street as far as the house of Mary Halpen, we noted the 
spot where John Ephraim, brother of Dea. Ephraim, lived. 
To the east of this site, and on the Hartwell estate, were 
found the remains of three Indian cellar holes. Over one 
of these the Hartwell house now stands. 

The next halt was made near the rear of the house owned by 
Mr. P. G. Branagan. In the immediate vicinity, Mr. Luther 
Titus pointed out four Indian sites, he having assisted a few 
years since in filling them up. A little farther on we reach 
what is known as the Indian Farm, purchased some time 
since by Mr. H. H. Hunnewell. Here are three Indian sites 
indicated by their stone monuments. The first monument, 
marked No. 2, shows us where Hannah Dexter, the far famed 
Indian doctress, lived. In the early part of the present cen- 
tury Hannah Dexter was a well-known character in all this 
region, and was sent for far and near, as she had the reputa- 
tion of effecting wonderful cures. She met a tragic death, 
however, on the evening of December 6th, 1821, by being 
pushed into the fire by her grandson, Joseph Purchase. 
After much delay Purchase was sentenced December 6th, 
1824, to three years in the State Prison. At the expiration 



1 Real name, Prof. Calvin E. Slowe. 

2 Real name, Rev. Stephen Badger. 



A Rcvi('7v of the First Fojtrtcoi Years. 25 

of the sentence he returned. l)ut for some offence he was 
again imprisoned and died shortly after. 

Monument No. 3, at the eastern part of the farm, marks 
a cellar hole still plainly to be seen, and monument No. 4, at 
the western end, denotes a locality where the Indians lived 
as recently as 1833. 

Vxo\\\ the Intlian Farm we make our way to the residence 
of Mr. James D. Draper. This house was built over the 
cellar where once the home of Deborah Comeches stood. 
There is an old pear tree still standing near the house ; and if 
its whispering leaves could only find intelligible speech it 
might tell us many a strange story of this race which, once 
so numerous here, will soon know these scenes no more. 
Mr. Draper has in his possession a rude earthern cup which 
without doubt was used by the Indians. The cup was found 
several years ago when removing some deposit from the 
bottom of the well. 

The next move of the party was toward Pegan Hill, where 
several Indian sites and cellars were examined. Near the 
summit of the hill we found the spot where lived the well- 
known Thomas Pegan, from whom the hill derives its name. 

After feasting the eyes with the far reaching, beautiful 
views of hills and mountains, lakes and river, we begin the 
return. Passing down Pegan lane we find on the way three 
more of these Indian cellar holes, neglected, forsaken spots, 
suggesting, in their melancholy silence, a fading and soon to 
become extinct race. The last of the Indian localities vis- 
ited by the party was near the house of Mr. W. L. Colburn. 
The Indian who lived here was known as Chalcom. 

The interest of the party was real and enthusiastic 
throughout the trip, and returning to the place whence we 
started it was found that nineteen Indian localities had been 
visited. 



26 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 



HOMES OF EARLY WHITE SETTLERS ON THE 
ROUTE OF FIRST FIELD-DAY EXCURSION. 



BY ELIJAH PERRY. 



The Pegan Hill Farm, adjoining the Indian Farm on the 
south-east, was owned and occupied by Thomas Ellis. We 
find in the early records that Mr. Ellis was tything-man in 
1733. He lived many years on this place and died here July 
19th, 1749. 

Enoch Draper came in possession of this farm in 1792, 
at the time that the farm next south, now owned by John 
Bachelder, was used as a small pox hospital. Mr. Draper 
lived here until Jan. 24, 1822, when he died, aged 59 years. 
Reuben Draper succeeded his father as owner of this farm, 
and died here Sept. 6th, 1853, aged 64 years. His widow, 
aged 91 years, is still living on one part of the farm.^ George 
B. Hale, who now resides on it, came into possession April, 
1857. 

The Hanchett Farm, long known as the Morse Farm, was 
originally purchased of the Indians, who probably lived on it 
before they sold to David Morse in 1761. David Morse sold 
to his son Joseph ; Joseph gave it in his will to his sons 
Benjamin and Joseph, and they, in 1792, deeded it to their 
brother William, who reared a family of five children and 
June 4th, 1 8 16, sold to Elijah Perry. It remained in the 
Perry family till 1856 (forty years), when it was sold to Wm. 
T. Hanchett, who still occupies it. The first house, proba- 
bly built by the Indians, stood a few rods north of the pres- 
ent house, and near the garden walls. The well to this 
house is yet in existence — covered with a flat stone, and 
that with earth. The second house stood a few rods in front 
of the first, was a one-story red Kouse with a large chimney 
in the center. Mr. Hanchett put up an entire set of new, 
commodious buildings, taking the old ones down. Descend- 



1 She died Jan. 21, 1884, aged 91 years, 3 months and 6 days. 



A Reviciv of tJic First Foiirteoi Years. 27 

ants of the Morse family who live in the vicinity take a live- 
ly interest in their ancestral home. Three brothers of \Vm. 
Morse in the early part of this century emigrated to central 
New York, where they acquired not only wealth but an hon- 
orable position in society. 

The Wiggin Farm was originally owned by Nathaniel Bat- 
tell previous to 1795, when it was sold by his heirs to Elijah 
Perry, who lived upon it till 1845, when he died, making his 
occupancy fifty years ; then by Calvin Perry ten years ; the 
next ten years by Elijah Perry, Jr., who sold to H. S. Ed- 
wards ; and Edwards sold to David Wiggin, who owned it in 
1 88 1. Mr. Wiggin, taking down a good set of commodious 
buildings, replaced them with more spacious and costly, 
but not as convenient buildings. 

The Asa Bacon Farm lies north of the Indian Farm and 
was owned by Mr. Bacon a number of years in the i8th cen- 
tury, and by his widow with two sons and a daughter up to 
1829, when she died, and the sons and daughter emigrated to 
Rutland, Vt. It has had various owners, but the buildings 
and a portion of the land are now (in 1883) owned by Ernest 
Wignot. This farm lay a half mile from any public way, 
until 1856, when Glen street was built, and a public way was 
made to Glenwood Cemetery, which was originally a part of 
this farm. 

The place now owned by the Flax Leather Board Co., and 
occupied by George Foster, was long owned by Mr. Isaac 
Bigelow. The house was a one-story gambrel-roof. In this 
house a family of four sons and two daughters were reared. 
In 1825 Mr. Bigelow took down the old house and built the 
present one. On these same premises stood the house of 
Dea. Joseph Ephraim, near the canal. Its site is now marked 
by a small stone monument. John ICphraim lived where the 
Halpen house now stands ; and for many years the house 
was occupied by Iq)hraim Whitney — or "Uncle Eph," the 
cobbler. 



SECOND FIELD-DAY 

OF THE 

)!] aiiJ Lilirarj Soeietj of Sootli Natid; 

May I, 1882. 



The Library and Museum of the Society, in their rooms 
in the Bacon Free Library building, were open free to all 
visitors from ten to 12 o'clock a. m. 

At one o'clock p. m. the company assembled near the 
Eliot Unitarian Church, to the number of about two hundred 
persons. The president of the Society, Dr. George J. Town- 
send, being unavoidably absent, the meeting was called to 
order by .the chairman of the committee of arrangements, 
Elijah Perry, Esq., who spoke as follows : 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : We, the members of the Histori- 
cal, Natural History and Library Society of South Natick, 
with our many friends, have met on this our second annual 
field-day, to look over the ancient ' Old Town ' localities, and 
try to pick up a few scraps of history that may be of interest 
to the present and future generations. There has long been 
felt a desire that the localities named in Mrs. Stowe's book 
of "Oldtown Folks" be pointed out : and this we intend to 
do to-day, as far as we go. While there are a number of 
persons living who remember persons and localities named 
in the book, it is believed that there is but one person living 
who is made to appear in it, viz. : Prof. Calvin E. Stowe (as 
'Horace Holyoke'), who was born here and has known these 
historic grounds. Friends, we heartily welcome you on this 
beautiful day to our field-day party." 

The several places described in the following pages were 
visited in the same order as here arranged. 



Second Fit Id-Day. 29 

THE INDIAN BURYING GROUND. 

KEV. J. P. SHEAFE, JR. 

In selecting a spot for the burial of the dead, it was a cus- 
tom among the Indians to choose a warm, sunny slope ; and 
whenever such a spot could be found on the shore of a lake, 
or, still better, on the bank of a running stream, it was es- 
pecially pleasing to the Indian mind. 

It will readily appear that the place where we now stand 
would meet most admirably the conditions of the ideal 
Indian Burying Ground a southern slope where the river, 
unobstructed by dam or fall, sang ever its low and soothing 
melody. This place was chosen at a very early date, and 
set apart as a place sacred to the memory of the dead. 
Where the old town pump stood for so many years, and 
where the drinking fountain now stands, is about the centre 
of the burying ground ; and as far as the present sources of 
information avail, the boundaries may be given as follows : 

Beginning with the Eliot Oak, ^ at the east side of the 
Unitarian Church, and extending in a straight line to a 
point near the corner of the school yard, just in the rear of 
the church, thence the bound sweeps round toward the far- 
ther end of Merchants' Block, the residence of Mr. I. B. 
Clark ; from this point we follow across the street in front of 
the Bacon Free Library, and down over the green in the 
rear of the building nearly to the south-east corner of the 
enclosure, where, in times gone by, stood the residence of 
the Old Town Deacon Badger. 

From this point we run the line back again to the Eliot 
Oak, from which we started, including on the way the grave 
of Daniel Takavvambpait, the head-stone of which may be 
seen in the edge of the side walk near the front of the resi- 
dence of Mrs. White. The foot stone, with the name of the 
Indian preacher inscribed, has been placed, with many other 
historic stones, in the wall of the Bacon Free Library. 



1 Sec the article upon tlie "Eliot Oal<," appeiulefl to '• Sfcoiid IMcId-Day " jiapers. 



30 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

Looking at this spot as it presents itself to-day, with its 
wide and much-traveled highways centering here, there is 
little to suggest the secluded quietness of an -Indian burial 
place. The change which has come to the inhabitants of 
this valley has transformed also the face of the earth. Civi- 
lization has laid its hand upon this spot, and the word of an- 
cient writ has been fulfilled, — " The valley has been exalted 
and the hills made low." 

Let the imagination picture what the memory fails to 
grasp, and you shall see this place in 165 1, when the apostle 
Eliot and the Indians located here — a smooth, rolling slope 
from the heights of Carver Hill down to the bank of the 
stream. When at length the roads were laid out, they were 
not exactly as at present located. The street from Welles- 
ley {or West Needham, as it was then called) did not extend 
in front of the church as now, but turned toward the north, 
passing at the rear of the church and on to the north part 
of the town. 

The Sherborn road, the ancient records inform us, lay 
farther to the west, passing in the rear of what is now the 
estate of Mr. John Robbins, back of the school-house as it 
now stands, and meeting the West Needham road a short 
distance beyond. 

The place whereon we stand was holy ground ; and it is 
only with the increase of business and traffic that the busy 
feet and laboring wheels have made thoroughfares over these 
sacred relics of a race almost though not entirely extinct. 

To my knowledge there is but one Indian grave-stone now 
standing in this place to mark the spot and record the name 
of a son of the forest, whose dust reposes here. That one 
stone which now remains was erected to the memory of 
Daniel Takawambpait, an Indian preacher whom the apostle 
Eliot ordained to assist him in the years of failing' strength 
and to carry on the work when his departure was at hand. 

This Indian preacher died Sept. 17, 1716, as the humble 
slab relates ; and the stone may be seen by the fence near 



Second Fie I (/-Day. 31 

the front of Mrs. White's residence. The Eliot monument 
on the common betokens the grateful memory of the apos- 
tle's labors here. 

Had the record been preserved, we might to-day point 
with a feeling of melancholy interest to the graves of such 
as Thomas Waban and Thomas, Jr., Deacon and Joseph 
Ephraim, one of the deacons of the church at the time the 
Rev. Oliver Peabody was minister here. John Sj^een and 
all his kindred lie here ; this was the Indian family who 
formerly owned nearly all the land of the original town ; and 
they gave it to the public interest here, that the praying 
Indians might have a town. 

The names of many others who have been conspicuous in 
the early history of this town deserve honorable mention 
here, such as Samuel and Andrew Abraham, Simon Ephraim, 
Solomon Thomas, Benjamin Tray, Thomas Pegan (for whom 
Pegan Hill was named), Joshua Bran, the Indian doctor : 
these and many more have their names and deeds written in 
the sacred dust of this consecrated spot. 

When Mr. William Biglow, in 1830, wrote his excellent, 
though brief, history of Natick, he states that within his 
memory the remains of Indians were brought to this burying 
ground and deposited beneath the green slope of yonder 
common. 

It is hardly possible to this day to remove the earth any- 
where within the limits described without opening these 
Indian graves. When the present face wall was built around 
the church green, many of these graves were disturbed ; and 
when the water pipes were laid through the street, from the 
church to Merchants' Block, they passed directly over a 
long row of Indian graves. 

It is a well-known fact that the Indians have a custom of 
burying various articles in the grave with the departed. 
Many of these things have been found in the graves that 
have been opened — articles such as beads, spoons, Indian 
pipes, a glass bottle and Indian kettle. Many of these relics 



32 Histoi'ical, N'at. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

have been preserved, and may be seen in the historic collec- 
tion of this villag:e. 



THE OLD CEMETERY. 



REV. J. P. SHEAFE, JR. 



The burying ground commonly referred to by us as the Old 
Cemetery, to distinguish it from the new one consecrated 
but a few years ago, is a piece of land lying close to the 
northern limit of the Indian burying ground. It was granted 
by the Proprietors of Natick to the Rev. Oliver Peabody and 
his successors June 22d, 1731, and for the use also of other 
English inhabitants. It is an historic spot made memorable 
as the resting place of many old and time-honored families 
of this village. Such family names as Bigelow (spelled then 
without the "e," Biglow), Bacon, Jones, Stowe, Sawin, Thayer 
and Broad : these names, with others that might have hon- 
orable mention, call up an ancestry of which the present 
generation need not be ashamed. As this burying ground 
was granted to Rev. Oliver Peabody, the English minister 
who succeeded John Eliot in 1721, you would expect to find 
his name among these who here, "Have laid them down to 
their last sleep." You will not be disappointed. A very 
plain and humble slab, mos's grown with more than a hun- 
dred years, with its Latin inscription commemorates the vir- 
tues, the wisdom and devoted labors of this Christian 
minister. 

His four children were buried here. On one of the stones 
we find the name of David Morse, born in 1696, worthy of 
note as being the third white settler in this place — John 
Sawin being the first, and Jonathan Carver the second. 

Many of the characters who were once conspicuous figures 
in the life of this village have been immortalized in Mrs. 
Stowe's "Old Town Folks." The names of some of these 
characters who have found their resting place in this spot 



Second Ficld-Day. 33 

shall have mention now. Having some slight prefLM-eiice for 
the clergy, I begin with Parson I.othrop, whose real name 
was Stephen Badger ; and an inscription upon his stone gives 
the following statement, "As a tribute of affectionate respect 
this stone is placed while memorv fond, each virtue shall 
renew." 

Lady Lothrop was not buried here, but you will note the 
grave of Dr. Thayer, her family physician, and also of Anna 
Moore, an attendant in the house. Call to your mind, also, 
the character of Dea. Badger and wife, whose real names 
were Dea. Wm. Biglow and wife. 

In mentioning the name of good Parson Lothrop and wife, 
we must not fail to remember one who, with a conscientious 
fidelity and a uniform courtesy always acceptable, adminis- 
tered the temporal affairs for Lady Lothrop in her declining 
years. The name of John Atkins will ever remind us of a 
pillar of strength in every good cause. 

Remember, also. Uncle Bill, Dea. l^adger's son, who used 
to come home from college and stir up the boys with all sorts 
of stories and college frolics, and make Sunday afternoon a 
little more cheerful than Aunt Lois thought was proper, 
though even she did enjoy seeing his cheerful face and hear- 
ing his merry laugh. 

Uncle Bill, really the son of Dea. I^iglow, was the author 
of the history of Natick before alluded to. Uncle Bill and 
his sister, and Aunt Lois, also have their resting place re- 
corded in this ancient cemetery. There are many other 
names that might have honorable mention. Col. Jones, who 
was John Jones, Esq., Maj. Broad, really Hezakiah Broad. 
Not by any means the least, but the last to be mentioned, is 
the father, mother and brother of Prof. Calvin E. Stowe, 
who, as a boy and young man, is found as Horace Holyoke 
in "Old Town l^\)lks." Though the father, mother and 
brother here repose, thanks to a kindly jirovidence, the 
illustrious Horace Holyoke is still among the living. I said 
thj last, but when I mention the names of the illustrious 



34 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

and the faithful, I cannot omit one other name, whose face 
and faithful labor are still fresh in memory, and I close this 
sketch of the old cemetery with the name of Rev. Horatio 
Alger, who with three of his family are resting here. 



THE OLD MEETING HOUSES. 



BY REV. J. P. SHEAFE, JR. 



The first meeting house erected upon this spot was a 
plain wooden house, 25x50 ft., of English style, and two 
stories in height. 

John Eliot went into the forest himself with the Indians 
while they felled and squared the timber, and then the 
Indians carried the timbers on their shoulders to the place 
of building. One white carpenter assisted in raising the 
building, and it was soon completed. That was in 165 1. 

As this building was to serve the place of church and 
schoolhouse, store and study, it must be a safe place, so they 
surrounded it with a large handsome fort, circular in form, 
and palisaded with the trees. This was the first meeting 
house. 

In 1699 the Indians petitioned the general court, saying, 
" Our church is fallen down, and we wish to sell to John 
Coller, Jr., carpenter, a small nook of our plantation, to pay 
him for erecting a new meeting house." John Coller went 
forward with the work, and was obliged, as he says, to expose 
his own estate for sale to meet the expense of building the 
house, and in 1702 the General Court granted him the land 
upon which he was already living, as pay for building the 
meeting house. 

This was the second house on this spot built about 1700. 
The evidence for this you will find in the files at the State 
house. 

A new minister, Mr. Oliver Peabody, comes in 1721 to 
live and labor in this Indian settlement. It is a great event. 



Second Fiild-Day. 36 

and great enthusiasm prevails. As a matter of course, the 
Coller meeting house is only 21 years old, but a new minis- 
ter must have a new meeting house. On the old records we 
read that in 1720 a meeting of the people was called to con- 
sider the plan of a new meeting house. A committee was 
chosen and empowered to have the new house built near the 
spot where the old one stood. Surely they would not em- 
power the committee to build a new house near where the 
old one stood, if they meant by it that the committee were 
to repair and refit the old house as some have supposed. 
But it is evident that the work of building the new house 
was carried forward at once, for on the 13th of September, 
1721, the record says, a meeting of the proprietors was 
properly named, at which time they granted unto Moses 
Smith, of Needham, 40 acres of land on the southerly side 
of Pegan Hill, said land to pay for finishing the meeting 
house. 

This was the Peabody meeting house, and the third on 
this spot ; and when the people went in and out on Sunday, 
they used to step across the ditch which surrounded the 
circular fort in the days of Eliot. 

The fourth meeting house is the Badger house, or the Par- 
son Lothrop church, which was raised on June 8, 1749; and 
John Jones, deacon of the church, made the record at the 
time. But affairs were in a troublous state. The Indians 
and the English interests were divided, and the Badger 
meeting house was not entirely finished till 1767. This 
house remained standing, though in a sorry condition, until 
1812, when the young men in an election frolic pulled it 
down and distributed it upon the neighboring wood piles. 

Thus ended the fourth meeting house ; and after the lapse 
of si.xteen years, the present edifice was erected, and dedi- 
cated November 20, 1828 — the fifth meeting house upon 
this spot, and a lineal descendent of the VX\cA church, which 
name it bears. 



36 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Soiith Natick. 



THE OLD ELIAKIM MORRILL TAVERN. 



BY S. B. NOYES, OF CANTON. 
(Grandson of Eliakim Morrill.) 

On the 29th of April, 1782 (one hundred years ago), my 
maternal Grandfather, Eliakim Morrill, made his first pur- 
chase of two and one-quarter acres and thirty-three rods of 
land of the heirs of Jonathan Carver, which land is now 
occupied by this (Bailey's) hotel building, Mrs. Bailey's 
dwelling, J. H. Robbin's dwelling, and the school-house 
buildings and yard. 

On this land he built a tavern which he kept for seven- 
teen years, followed by Ebenezer Newell, David Dana, 
Peter Twichell, Luther Dana, John Brown, Samuel Jones, 
Calvin Shephard, Job Brooks, William Drake, Daniel Cham- 
berlain, John Oilman, James Whittemore. Goin Bailey took 
it in 1849 ^"^^ ^SP^ it tii^ ^"'is death in 1875. The tavern 
which Eliakim Morrill built stood till March 2, 1872, when 
it was destroyed by fire, and Mr. Bailey erected this hotel 
on the old site in 1873. It has become famous, and is 
known throughout the country and is visited by persons from 
all parts of the United States ; not only for its salubrious 
location and the historical renown of the town but also for 
the picturesque and charming scenery of its neighborhood 
and the excellence of its management. And yet probably it 
does not so fill the public eye, nor is it so much a part of the 
life of the people as was the humble, unpretentious Inn, 
before which the sign board swung, in those first seventeen 
years, when Eliakim Morrill, and Ruth (Russell) his wife, 
dispensed its hospitality and entertained weary and hungry 
travelers, sheltering man and beast from the storms of win- 
ter ; when fires of hickory and oak wood blazed upon the 
wide open hearth, in the low-studded " common room," and 
the loggerheads were heating in the coals, and the fragrant 
smell of the turkeys, or beef, or pork roasting on the spit 



Second Field- Day. 37 

before the open fire place in the kitchen filled all the house. 
There were no rail-roads and no stage-coaches then, and 
nearly all the travel on this road between the cities of Bos- 
ton and New York, was on horseback or in rude wagons. 

Whatever idea of my grandfather may have been con- 
ceived by the readers of the caricature of him in that re- 
markable book, " Old Town Folks " (announced to be the 
production of Harriet, daughter of the late Rev. Lyman 
Beecher, D. D., who became the wife of a learned and dis- 
tinguished Professor of Sacred Literature, born and bred in 
this village, the incidents of whose early life are well known 
to me) : this may be said of him, that he and his wife, Ruth 
Russell, were praying christians ; and my mother, Elizabeth 
Morrill, who was born in the front north-east chamber of 
the old tavern in 1788, and her brother, Joseph Morrill, who 
was born there two years later, were accustomed to attend 
the family prayers in that room, which their father never 
omitted, morning or evening, till his last sickness and death 
in 1825, in the Dedham village. I can recall his manner of 
conducting this devotional exercise in my early boyhood, 
when he used to read a chapter in Scott's Family Bible, and 
then pausing, he would say, " Practical Observations," and 
read what those who are familiar with that Bible will recog- 
nize. He was a good man, was born in Wilmington, Mass., 
and was the son of Rev. Isaac Morrill, who was the son of 
Abraham Morrill, of Salisbury, Mass., who came to New 
England in 1632, was a member of the Ancient and Honor- 
able Artillery in 1638, came to Salisbury in 1650, and there 
died in 1682. 

Jacob Morrill, his son, was the representative from Salis- 
bury in 16S9. Rev. Isaac Morrill, son of Jacob, was born 
at Salisbury May 20, 1718, was graduated at Harvard 
College in 1737, settled in the ministry at Wilmington, 
Mass., May 20, 1741, died August 17, 1793, leaving five 
sons, Isaac, Eliakim, James, William and Nathaniel, and two 
daughters, Nabby and Dolly. Isaac studied medicine and 



38 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

settled in that part of the town set off to Needham, and 
died at the age of 93 in the village of Wellesley. James 
became an opulent East India merchant, at the head of 
India wharf, Boston, and was deacon of the First Church in 
1825. Nathaniel lived on the homestead in Wilmington. 
William was a physician in the western part of the State. 
Eliakim was born in 1751, and was thirty-one years of age 
when he built the Old Tavern. He removed from Natick 
to Dedham about the year 1799. He and his household 
were members of the ancient First Church of Dedham dur- 
ing the pastorate of Rev. Joshua Bates. When Mr. Bates, 
in 181 8, left the pastorate to become the President of 
Middlesex College, Vt., and a successor was ordained by the 
parish without the vote of the church, the majority of the 
church seceded and formed a new society, known to-day as 
the "Allen Church," having taken the name of the first 
minister of the Dedham church, Rev. John Allen, in 1638? 
He went with them and was a pillar in the new church to 
the day of his death, in 1825. The late Rev. Ebenezer 
Burgess, D. D., who was ordained first pastor of the new 
society in 1821, in a note to a centennial discourse delivered 
by him Nov. 8, 1838, mentions Eliakim Morrill as one of the 
aged members of the church who had died within a few 
years, "whose names are written in the book of life." He 
could not have been of the frivolous character depicted in 
"Old Town Folks." He died forty years before the book 
was published. Calvin Stowe hardly ever saw him after he 
left Natick for Dedham in 1799, and Harriet Beecher never 
saw him. The traditions of Eliakim Morrill in the Bigelow 
family, as related by the mother of Prof. Stowe, are too 
shadowy, too much colored by the peculiar eccentric love of 
mirth which characterized William Biglow and Calvin Stowe, 
and William Stowe his brother, to be believed as truth. 
Let us honor our ancestry by disbelieving it. But let that 
pass. This old tavern stand will never cease to be an inter- 
esting spot in this town. The old tavern was famous in its 



Second Field-Day. 39 

clay and generation, like the Inns made famous in London 
by Ben Johnson and Sir Walter Raleigh and Shakespeare, 
Beaumont and Sam Johnson, Goldsmith, Cooper and Dick- 
ens. I delight to dwell upon its picture as presided over 
by my grandfather, — not as he was in his old age, when 
he used to take me with him in a square-topped " one-horse 
shay" from Dedluim to Boston, a distance of ten miles, and 
back in the same day ; he, dressed in short clothes, black 
silk stockings, silver knee buckles and shoe buckles ; we 
stopped at every tavern on the road, — but as a younger man, 
a host on hospitable thoughts intent, as he was always in his 
later years. I associate his Inn with the Inn sung by the 
polished muse of William Shenstone in the lines : 

WRITTEN AT AN INN AT HENLEY. 

To thee, fair Freedom! I retire 

From flattery, card.s and dice, and din; 

Nor art thou found in mansion.s liigher 
Thau tlie low cot or huinl)Ie Inn. 

'Tis here with boundless jiower I reign; 

And every health which I begin 
Converts dull i)ort to bright champagne: 

Such freedom crowns it, at an Inii. 

T fly from pomp, I fly from plate! 

I fly from Falsehood's specious grin! 
Freedom I love, and form I hate, 

And choose my lodgings at an Inn. 

Here, waiter! take my sordid ore, 

Which lackeys else miglit hope to win; 

It l)uys what courts have not in store — 
It buys me freedom at an Inn. 

Who'er has travelled life's dull round, 
Where'er his stages may have been. 

May sigh to think he still has found 
The warmest welcome at an Inn. 

The present keeper of this Inn, Almond Bailey, is a worthy 
son of a worthy sire, and still maintains the good name of 
the old tavern, !)uilt by Eliakim Morrill, in 1782. 



40 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 



MERCHANT'S BLOCK. 

BY WM. EDWARDS. 



There is but little that can be said of this spot, except 
that it was once owned by Samuel Stowe, who occupied it 
as a dwelling and a bake shop. It was here that Prof. Stowe 
was born. Isaac B. Clark, our well-known trader and citizen, 
bought the land with a small building of a Mr. Milroy a 
tailor, in 1842, since which it has been occupied by him and 
myself. In i860 Mr. Clark moved off the old buildings and 
built a new store, which was burned in 1872, and was the 
same year replaced by this building. It may not be out of 
place here to relate an anecdote that took place between two 
rival families. Mr. G. kept a dry goods store, with groceries, 
rum, gin, brandy, etc., on the north side, while Mr. E., with 
the same kinds of goods, occupied the opposite side of the 
street. Being opposite traders, it became very easy for 
them to become opponents in trade. Once on a time rob- 
bers broke into the store of Mr. G. These robbers took 
down all the valuable goods, tied them in bundles, and then 
went off and left them on the counter, which was a great 
wonder to the people, till Mr. E. explained the mystery by 
saying, " He has always marked his goods so high that even 
his own friends wouldn't take them." 



THE EBENEZER NEWELL HOUSE. 



BY AMOS P. CHENEY. 



Among the heirs at law of the estate of Jonathan Carver 
of this town were two spinsters, the Misses Lydia and Abi- 
gail Carver. In November, 1795, these ladies sold this lot of 
land to Ebenezer Newell, a butcher, who probably built this 
house soon after that date, and dwelt here about twenty-one 
years. Mr. Newell's children, including two sons and six 



Sccoud Field-Day. 41 

daughters, may be esteemed a remarkable family : for while 
one son was content to follow his father's calling, the other 
children were more ambitious. The son William became a 
Doctor of Divinity, and his sisters, who, chiefly by their own 
exertions, secured for themselves superior education, fitting 
them to grace high social positions, became distinguished as 
teachers ; and the husbands of those who were married were 
eminent men in the church and other walks in life. 

Mellen Battle, the next owner, bought the estate Novem- 
ber i6, 1816. He was an ingenious mechanic, and invented 
some improvement in wheels, or method of manufacturing 
them, which led to the erection of a factory at the southerly 
end of the dam in this village, for the purpose of supplying 
the market with his goods. But this enterprise proved a 
failure, and in consequence Mr. Battle's title to this house 
and land passed into the hands of Mr. Warren White, who 
sold to Calvin Shepherd in 1822. 

Mr. Shepherd owned the adjoining estate, on which Mer- 
chant's Block now stands, and was at different times a paper 
maker, a trader, and also landlord of the tavern. He after- 
ward removed to Framingham, and engaged in trade there ; 
but becoming insolvent, his property was transferred to 
Messrs. Macomber and Sawin, merchants in Boston, and by 
that firm it was sold to Martin Broad. 

Mr. Broad was a man of energy, and as a farmer and a 
butcher he did a large business and gave employment to 
quite a force of men during a long term of years. His 
social standing was high, and his house, famed for its lavish 
hospitality, was the frequent resort of the best society of 
this and neighboring towns during the time he occupied it. 

In 1850 or early in the following year, Messrs. J. and W. 
Cleland purchased the estate, and Mr. John Cleland made it 
his home until his removal to Natick village in 1852. 

Since that time it has had several owners, among them 
Albert Mann, who manufactured shoes here several years ; 
also Aaron Claflin of Milford, bv whom it was sold at 



42 Historical, NaT. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

auction in 1865 or thereabout, Mr. Patrick Welch becoming 
the owner. It has been a tenement house from that time to 
the present. 



SAMUEL LAWTON. 



BY ELIJAH PERRY 



Samuel Lawton (Lawson of " Old Town " notoriety) pur- 
chased this land (deed dated June 6, 1798), and soon after 
built the house as it now stands, except that it has been 
moved back 16 feet. He used the basement for a black- 
smith's shop. Lawton* occupied this place until 181 2, when 
it was sold to Mr. Benjamin Bird, a blacksmith from Need- 
ham, who resided here till his death, in 1836. His heirs 
continued to occupy it till 1867, when they sold to the pres- 
ent owner, Mr. William Selfe. Nearly opposite, in a north- 
erly direction, stood a small house of one story, with base- 
ment below the road, which had been occupied by Mr. 
Thomas Holbrook, a gunsmith. On leaving his former resi- 
dence, Lawton moved into this place, and here lived until 
1828, when he moved to Lower Falls, Newton, and died 
January 22, 1862, aged 88 years. 

When Lawton left his basement shop, he had another 
built for him near the large oak. The materials for that 
building had previously formed part of the house of Coma- 
cho, an Indian, on the site of Mr. James D. Draper's 
house on Began Hill. When Lawton removed to Newton 
Lower Falls, his shop was taken down and went with him. 



Sirof/(/ Ficld-Dav. 43 



THE CARVf£R HOUSE AND FAAHLY. 



BV MRS. MARV P. RICllAROS. 



The Carver family was among the first settlers in this 
place, and acconlini;- to the best liij^ht which we now have, it 
was the second in order of time. 

The Carver house, too, was one of the first frame houses 
erected in this wilderness, at a period when red men consti- 
tuted the principal population. It is situated on the south- 
east slope of Carver Hill, which took the name which it now 
bears from its first white proprietors. The descent of the 
hill is gradual to Charles river, intersected by the Main 
street ; and this slope, commanding views of variegated 
scenery, with the river for its lowest point, and Pegan Hill 
for its highest, furnished favorite building sites for both ab- 
origines and Europeans. 

Here lived, at this early period of civilization, Jonathan 
Carver and Hannah Fiske, his wife, with their noted family 
of si.x daughters. His nearest neighbor on his right was 
Jacob Pratt, and in close pro.ximity the esteemed Indian, Dr. 
Joshua I^rann. Report of the notable harmony and good will 
that prevailed in this neighborhood of whites and Indians 
has been handed down to our time. 

The Carver homestead remained in the family a long time, 
finally coming into the sole possession of Betty, the fifth 
daughter. She was born March 2ist, 1737, and remained at 
home, a spinster, until after middle life. She appears to have 
been an energetic person, of large executive ability, and also 
of a kindly nature, as she took home and supported a wid- 
owed, childless sister. In 177 1-2 and 3 she pame before the 
pul)lic as a teacher in the South Natick district school. 
One of her bills for services stantls thus on the town 
records : 



44 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

"Natick Septra. 5 1773 
The Deestrict of Natick Dr. to Betty Carver for keppen scolle & 
Boarden 10 weeks at four shillins & ten pence per weke £2, 8s, Od. 
Errors excepted By me Betty Carver." 

The selectman who accepted this bill was a Harvard grad- 
uate, Samuel Welles, Esq., and the only error he noted was 
that this lady was married during her term of service, and 
he warns the treasurer not to pay unless her husband re- 
ceipts the bill. 

She was married in 1773, by the Rev. Stephen Badger of 
Natick, to Joseph Day of Walpole, and died in Walpole July 
26, 1837, aged 93 years. 

Anecdotes of Betty Carver's bustling activity, of what 
Betty said and did, of her ballad singing, keeping time on 
the treadle of her flax spinning wheel, have amused family 
circles through successive generations and we cannot but 
regret our inability to hand down specimens of her songs 
and ditties for the pleasure of those who may come after us. 

The Carver house remained and was occupied by Daniel 
Hartshorn, whose wife was Rebecca Morse, daughter of 
David Morse. The new proprietor was a carpenter, and 
soon transformed the humble one-story dwelling into a two 
story square-roofed house. Under his agency the front-yard 
was terraced, a face wall was built upon the street, and a 
low picket fence placed upon the wall. Some twelve or 
fourteen years passed, and the Hartshorns removed to Boyl- 
ston, Mass. The property next passed to Dr. A. Thayer, 
our new family physician, who, with his bride, Susan Bigelow 
then settled here, and every thing flourished again. The 
front yard was full of flowers, and the house beautified with 
climbing roses and honeysuckle. During their residence in 
this house three'children were born to them, one of whom 
only is left — our worthy fellow townsman, Mr. Alexander 
Wheelock Thayer. 

The fourth occupant and his wife, proprietors of this his- 
toric estate, merit honor which no passing words can indi- 



Second Field-Day. 45 

cate. Their names are enrolled as benefactors of this neinh- 
borhood. Oliver and Sarah G. Bacon began their wedded 
life under this roof. Here, avoiding all show and ostentation, 
clinging to the virtues of industry and honesty, they entered 
upon a career of lasting usefulness and honor. Their mem- 
ory will endure when the house in which they lived has 
perished.^ 

Carver Hill is the highest point of land in this neighbor- 
hood, is convenient and easy of access to the numerous 
population that are destined to live around its base ; on its 
summit may be enjoyed a surpassingly beautiful landscape, 
and breathed in an atmosphere that shall give health and 
vigor to those who seek its beneficial effects. 

We submit the proposition that the crown of this hill 
should be a common or park, where all may enjoy the privi- 
lege of its invigorating air. Then will this hill and village 
have a crown worth wearing — a monument ever speaking 
j^ood will to the multitudes below. 



THE PRATT HOUSE. 



BY AMOS P. CHENEY. 



The Pratt House or Walker House. — Of this house, long 
known as the " Pratt House," we have but little to say. It is 
supposed to be about one hundred and twenty-five years old. 
We find that in 1793 it was held by one Asa Adams, a phy- 
sician, and that in the spring of the following year he sold it 
to Jacob Pratt, in whose family the title has remained ever 
since. 

During a long period, while the owners were in New York, 
this house was occupied by tenants, among whom was one 
Lydia Ferritt, a spinster, who had been a servant in the 



1 The plan of fouiifling the '• Bacon Free Library" was, doubtles.s, originated and 
formulated by Mr. and Mrs. Baoon, jointly, she being even more interested than lier 
husband in such matters. 



46 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of So2ith Natick. 

Welles family a long time ; and she was supported by them 
in her old age. She was noted for her belief in the existence 
of witches, and that horseshoes were a sure protection from 
their evil influences. She always kept a horseshoe with the 
pot hooks and trammel upon the crane, and upon each of the 
outer doors. Still, holding herself one of the wise virgins, 
she kept faithful watch — not for the expected bridegroom, 
but for any presumptuous witch who might ignore the armor 
of horseshoes and attack her stronghold. She told many- 
stories of her discoveries, made during these vigils. 

The present owner is Mr.. Eliot Walker, whose wife is one 
of the daughters of Jacob Pratt, from whom she inherited a 
part ; and the remainder was afterward purchased by Mr. 
Walker, who has now occupied it some fifteen years. 



JOSHUA BRAND 

Owned and occupied a small house which stood beside the 
old well just beyond the Walker house. He was an Indian, 
and one of the most noted of the physicians so numerous 
among that people. He married a white woman, who was 
spoken of as a "tidy wife." 

Mr. Austin Bacon spoke in high terms of the doctor and 
his family. 

Dr. Brand and Jonathan Carver were contemporaries and 
near neighbors ; and that the intercourse between the fami- 
lies was most intimate and constant, the beaten path from 
one house to the other amply proved. It was said the chil- 
dren of each house were so warmly welcomed in the other 
as to feel equally at home in both. The doctor died, and his 
widow was long known as "Nurse Brand," which indicates 
her vocation during her widowhood. One daughter was 
married and went to Medfield, where she died about 1837. 
The house passed away long ago, and only the well remains 
to mark the spot which was once the home of Dr. Brand. 



Scccvid Ficld-Dav. 47 

BADGER PLACE. 



nv KF.V. J. p. SHEAFE, JR. 



Thi.s is the Par.son Lothrop mansion of " Old Town "fame. 
Thoui;h we have not the certainty \vc could wish, we may 
say it was probably erected by Parson Lothrop about 1753. 
Strong, substantial, tenacious of itself, it is a good type of 
the character of the Parson. He was much endeared to 
many of the Indians, as these beautiful elms testify. These 
are the trees of friendship which the Indians brought on 
their shoulders and planted here as a testimonial of their re- 
gard to him who ministered unto them. This was the home 
of Parson Lothrop until his death, and here Lady Lothrop 
also lived till the close of her life, which took place within 
the memory of many now living. After the death of Lady 
Lothrop, the estate passed, by will, into the possession of 
John Atkins, and successively, into the possession of Chester 
Adams and John Bacon, then to his son Oliver Bacon, who 
spent a large part of a long life here. By his will, it de- 
scended to the heirs of Mr. William Hickox, and by sale, to 
the hands of the present owner, Mr. Z. H. Stain, in whose 
thrifty hands it has been greatly improved without and 
within, both in comfort and appearance. 



THE HEZEKIAH BROAD OR COOK HOUSE. 



BY AMOS P. CHENEY. 



In 1720, or about that time, a dam was built across the 
Charles River, nearly opposite this house, and a mill erected 
beside it by John Sawin, miller. But as the flowage brought 
complaint from the settlers at Medfield, Mr. Sawin moved 
his machinery to a new mill upon a stream near his house. 

This Charles River property consisted of about an acre of 
land l:)etween the river and the road, the dam already built 



48 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of So?it/i Natick. 

across the river, the works upon the dam and land adjoining, 
and all rights and privileges appertaining. 

In July, 1733, Mr. Sawin sold this estate to one Hezekiah 
Broad, a clothier of Needham, and in the same month Mr. 
Broad bought other land of Rev. Oliver Peabody. Mr. 
Broad probably removed to Natick soon after the date of 
purchase, as he was elected to a town office March, 1734. 
This was the home of this Hezekiah Broad until he died 
May 18, 1752. He left a widow, a daughter Rebecca, and a 
son Hezekiah, who was but one year old at the time. This 
son became a man of marked character, and in 1787, when 
36 years old, he was elected delegate to the State conven- 
tion, which on Feb. 6th, 1788, ratified the newly-framed con- 
stitution of the United States. Mr. Broad voted against the 
ratification ; but when it became the supreme, organic law 
of the land, he supported and defended it with the earnest- 
ness and heartiness of true patriotism which always distin- 
guished him. He lived to the age of J'^ years, and died 
March 7, 1823. His son Hezekiah inherited the old home- 
stead, and remained upon it till the year 1867, one hundred 
and thirty-four years after his grandfather settled there. The 
present house was erected by a family named Brown, who 
occupied it several years, and were succeeded by Mr. Cook, 
who now resides upon it. 



REV. OLIVER PEABODY ESTATE. 



BY ELIJAH PERRY. 



This estate was conveyed to him by Thomas Waban (son 
of Thomas Waban), Joseph Ephraim, Samuel Abraham, Solo- 
mon Thomas and Benjamin Tray were a committee chosen 
appointed by the commons or proprietors of Natick, by deed 
dated April 8, 1723. Mr. Peobody built a house and resided 
here until his death, Feb. 2, 1752 ; after which it was owned 
and occupied by Captain Brown, a retired sea captain, but 



Sirou{/ Ficld-Day. 49 

for what length of time we do not know. It eventually 
passed into the ownership of Mr. John Bacon, and was suc- 
cessively occupied by various parties till about 1826; after 
which it stood unoccupied till 1867, when it was destroyed by 
an incendiary fire. The place has not been inhabited till 
the present house was built, which is owned by George B. 
Damon. Over the little brook near the road for many years 
stood a saw-mill. This place was selected by the Indians as 
a pleasant locality for their minister, it being so situated 
that from his study window he could see a goodly number of 
his red parishioner's dwellings. 

About the year 1635 an expedition started on foot from 
Watertown for the Connecticut River, driving cattle, 
through the thick woods, and, according to their minister's 
diary, camped on this ground the first night. Tradition says, 
his diary reads something in this wise : " We camped on the 
high ground near a cleft rock by the side of a brook, which 
empties into the Charles River a short distance below the 
rock." Now, after nearly two hundred and fifty years, may be 
seen the river, the brook, the rock, and the high grounds. 
Just two hundred years ago, in 1682, the Sherborn road, now 
Eliot street, was laid out by Edward West, John Coller, 
John Livermore, Samuel Howe and Obediah Morse. 



THE BACON HOUSE. 



BY HORACE MANN. 



This place is the ancestral estate of the branch of the 
Bacon family that first settle. I upon the west bank of 
Charles Riv^er. It was once in the possession of a Whitney 
family, and was occupied a short time by Jeremiah Bacon, 
who married Anne Whitney. The ne.xt owner was Oliver 
Bacon, the son of John and Elizabeth Griggs Bacon, of Ded- 
ham, born about 1724, and who married Sarah Haws, of 
Needham, in 1749, and was the father of John, born about 



50 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

1 76 1, who married Mary Ryder, of Natick, about 1791, and 
was the father of Oliver, John, Willard, Ira and Mary, and 
possibly others. He had a second wife, Widow Vina (Morse) 
Pratt, mother of a portion of these children. By purchase, 
John Bacon acquired a large landed estate in Natick, upon both 
sides of the Charles River, and on Carver Hill. It was op- 
posite this house that the Indians had a foot bridge over the 
river, the foundations of which are still visible. This house 
was built before the Revolutionary war. During the Revo- 
lution Oliver Bacon was influential in forwarding measures 
to support and carry on the war, and several times furnished 
loans to pay the Continental soldiers. He was an advocate 
of a specie currency, and stipulated that all loans should be 
repaid in "hard Spanish milled dollars." John Bacon was a 
farmer and maker of wooden pumps. By the thrift and in- 
dustry of this family, and the generosity of one of its mem- 
bers, 1 the town is the recipient of a noble and bounteous 
gift. The house, with its wide fire-place, its rough beams, 
its hand-made clapboards, and wrought nails, is a specimen 
of the skill and handicraft of a race who wrought earnestly 
and well, and is a relic which should be preserved as an illus- 
tration of the methods and modes of life a century ago. 



S. B. SAWIN PLACE. 



BY J. PARMENTER. 



The first we know of this place, now owned and occupied 
by S. B. Sawin, is that it was purchased by Eleazer Golding 
from Mrs. Sarah Lovering,^ of Boston, in 1783. Eleazer 
Goulding was the father of Curtis, and Curtis was the father 
of the present Eleazer Golding, of South Framingham. The 
mother of Deacon Wight, of Natick, was also daughter of 



1 The late Oliver Bacon, Esqr., founder of the Bacon Free Library. 

2 Daughter of John Bacon. 



Second Ficld-Day. 51 

the former Elenzer (she was born in I7<S2), he being grand- 
father of Deacon Wight. Mr. Gelding moved to Sherborn, 
and probably rented this place. It passed into the hands of 
John Mann, and from him to liis son Willard, then to a Mr. 
War, and finally to S. B. Sawin. It was occupied in 1876 
by Beckwith & Co., contractors on the Boston water works. 
The ne.xt year the old house was taken down, and the pres- 
ent one, which was built by Willard Mann for a shoe factory, 
has since been moved and fixed up for a dwelling house. 



THE ELIJAH ESTY PLACE. 



BY ELIJAH PERKY. 

An ancient locality, for many years owned by the late 
Honorable John Welles, and his heirs, on the westerly side 
of Eliot street, northerly of the residence of Mr. Rufus 
Campbell ; was long owned by Elijah Esty, a worthy citizen, 
and after his decease it passed into the possession of his son 
Elijah, who resided at Sherborn, where he reared quite a 
family of children. Coming into possession of this property 
he removed to it, and with his wife Lydia and their daughter 
Sarah (or Sally as she was familiarly called), lived there until 
January, 1823, when Lydia died, aged 83 years. Mr. Esty 
died September 14th, 1826, aged 88 years. Mr. Esty was 
a worthy, high-minded citizen. In his later days he would 
often express the wish to younger people that they might 
not live to be as old and feeble as he was. He had been a 
musician in the French and Re\-olutionary wars. The older 
part of the house had become so worn out and decayed that 
in the night after his death and while Sally, alone, was 
watching over his lifeless remains, it fell with a crash into a 
heap of ruins. 

This was a one-story house with two rooms in front. The 
newer part was probably built on by the son. The fire-places 



52 Historical, Nat. Hist, a) id Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

were large enough to take in eight-foot wood. Sally died 
December, 1853, aged y^ years, and now rests with her re- 
spected parents in the South Natick burial ground ; and we 
who remember her, respect her especially for her devotion to 
her aged parents. We doubt not that their spirits blend in 
harmony in that better land. 



THOMAS SAWIN AND DESCENDANTS. 



BY HORACE MANN. 



This estate was traversed in early times by the path which 
led from Natick to Pocasset Hill in Sherborn, and from there 
to Mendon and the Nipmuck region beyond, and was one of 
the routes from Massachusetts to Connecticut. Eliot, 
Gookin, Rawson and others who were interested in the In- 
dian mission, often passed this way on their journeys to the 
Nipmuck country. And by this path came Oneco, the son 
of Uncas, with his fifty Mohicans, to join his English allies 
at Boston in June, 1675, in the expedition against King 
Philip. 

"They came by the way of Natick, and were joined by two 
Englishmen from there and by some of the Naticks," reads 
the account of their arrival at Boston. 

The Sawin estate borders upon the eight hundred acre 
farm laid out to Simon Bradstreet in 165 1, and conveyed 
by him to Daniel Morse, of Dedham, in 1652, and was known 
in ancient deeds as Morse's Farm, and is still owned by de- 
scendants of the original planter. 

It was at the Bradstreet Farm that Morse built a bridge 
over the .Charles River in 1658, taking his timber from the 
Natick swamps, there being none near him, as he asserts in 
his petition for the privilege. At the bounds of Morse's 
Farm Eliot's praying Indians laid down a "wyer" to mark 
the limit of the possessions they gave into the keeping of 
the Apostle for the bettering of their souls. 



Scco/id Ficld-Day. 58 

The first English owner of this estate was Lieut. Thomas 
Sawin, a native of Watertown and son of John and Alice 
(Manning) Sawin. He was born in 1657, served as a .soklier 
in the Narragansett expedition in December, 1675, and in 
1679 was accepted as one of the new settlers at Chestnut 
l^rook, in Sherborn, where he built a mill, the site of which 
is on the sourtherly side of Brush Hill, near the residence of 
the late Isaac Cousins. A house lot was assigned him near 
the lands of Edward West. He built the first meeting house 
in Sherborn, and his account for finishing it was rendered 
October 12th, 1682. 

For a number of years he was a Representative of Sher- 
born in the General Court, Selectmen, and often served upon 
important town committees. In 1683 he married Deborah 
Rice, of Sudbury. In 1686 he asks leave of the General 
Court to purchase fifty acres of land in Natick, for the purpose 
of building a corn mill for tjie use of the Indians ; and after 
a delay of several years the purchase was confirmed. In 1702, 
in company with Joseph Sherman of Watertown, Thomas 
Waban and Peter Ephraim, he adjusts the boundary lines be- 
tween the towns of Natick, Sherborn, Framingham, Sudbury 
and Watertown. In 17 12 he was still called of Sherborn, and 
was acting on a committee to settle the tenancy of the 
Natick lands in the borders of Framingham. In 1714 he 
was Representative of Sherborn. In 1716 he acts tor Sher- 
born in a renewal of the bounds of Natick and Sherborn. In 
1717a way that leads to the mill pond is referred to in a re- 
newal of bounds. In 17 18 his house is referred to in a re- 
newal ; and Lieut. Thomas was then called of Natick, and 
had probably taken up his a1)ocle on this estate. 

From the union with Daborah Rice there issued tour chil- 
dren, one son and three daughters. The son was born in 1684, 
and called Lieut. John ; married Joanna Lyon, of Milton, in 
1 71 5, and removed to Natick with his father. His children, 
recorded at Sherborn: Joanna, 1715 ; Thomas, 1718; Debo- 
rah, 1719; John, 1721 ; Mary, 1722; Abigail, 1724. Prior 



54: Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Soc'y of South Natick. 

to March, 1722, he had built a mill on Charles River near 
lands of Rev. Oliver Peabody, and which is referred to in the 
Proprietors' Records as the new mill of Lieut, John Sawin. 
About 1730 he disposes of this privelege. In 1720, Lieut. 
Thomas and his son John receive a deed of the flowage 
rights and privileges of the brook which runs out of Little 
Pond from David and Lydia (Morse) Stanford, the owners 
thereof. This indicates that they were extending and im- 
proving their privileges on that stream. Lieut. Thomas de- 
ceased prior to 1733, and Lieut. John inherits the estate and 
his father's rights in the Douglass grants and the Narragan- 
sett division of lands in the towns of Westminster and 
Princeton. 

Thomas Sawin, 2d, the son of Lieut. John, born in 1721, 
was also called Lieut. Thomas, and married Abigail Morse of 
Sherborn in 1747, and inhabited the Natick estate of his 
father. He was the father of five sons and five daughters. 
He was a soldier of the French war, and commanded a de- 
tachment of the Natick military on garrison service at 
Springfield in 1757. His sons, Moses, Thomas, Ezekiel and 
Pharez, inherited his estate. 

Thomas, 3d, born in 1751, was called Ensign and Captain, 
and built the house near the brook about 1770. He married 
Abigail Bacon, of Dedham, in 1771, and was the father of 
Thomas and Martha, the founders of the Sawin Academy at 
Sherborn. He was a minute man in 1775 and a soldier in 
the Canada expedition of 1776. It was to this house that 
Abigail Bacon and her neice, Abigail Smith, came on the 
night of the i8th of April, 1775, to warn the Sawins of the 
marching of the British from Boston ; and this house was a 
rendezvous of a portion of the Natick minute men. Abigail 
became the wife of Thomas Sawin and was one of the sur- 
viving pensioners of the Revolution living in Natick in 1840. 
Abigail Smith married James Bayard Stafford, a Lieutenant 
under Paul Jones in the engagement between the Bon 
Homme Richard and the British ship Serapis in the Eng- 



Second Field-Day. 65 

lish Channel in 1779. Captain Thomas was town treasurer 
and collector, and also a school teacher in Natick. Moses 
Sawin inhabited the ancestral homestead of his grandfather, 
John, and one-half of the ancient mill privilege. 

Ezekiel Sawin inherited the farm on the west side of the 
mill pond, now owned by Sumner Goulding. Ezekiel was a 
soldier of the Revolution and in the Canada Expedition of 
1776. Joel and John Sawin, descendants of Lieut. John, 
were also in the same expedition. Levi, Ebenezer and Eze- 
kiel were in the campaign in Rhode Island in 1781. Pharez 
Sawin inhabited the farm now owned by James Fisher Sawin. 
Lieut. John, through the females of this family, is entitled to 
consideration in this paper. 

Abigail Sawin, daughter of Lieut. John, was born in 1724; 
married Lieut. John Bacon, of Needham, who was killed by 
the King's troops at West Cambridge, April 19, 1775. She 
was the motlfer of John Bacon, a lieutenant at Cambridge in 

1775, with Patterson's regiment at Chamblee in 1776, and a 
captain in Thayer's regiment in Rhode Island in 1781. Her 
sons, Timothy and Moses, were in the Canada Expedition of 

1776, and Moses died on the return march. 

Mrs. Bacon married 2d Lieut. Timothy Smith, a Revo- 
lutionary soldier of 1775 and of the Rhode Island campaign 
of 1781. 

Deborah Sawin, born 17 19, married Elijah Goodnow, of 
Natick, and was the mother of Deacon William Goodnow, 
who was a soldier of the Rhode Island campaign of 1781. 

Rebecca Sawin, the daughter of Lieut. Thomas, 2d, mar- 
ried Richard Baxter, of Princeton, and was the grandmother 
of Windsor Howe, the centenarian, who died at Bolton in 
this State in 1881. 

The students of local history and the lovers of antiquarian 
lore can afford to linger at this place. Indian, Colonial, 
Provincial and Revolutionary memories cluster around this 
secluded and romantic spot. Its owners and occupants for 
a century and a half performed a conspicuous part in the an- 



56 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

nals of New England, and of Natick ; and by yonder winding 
river, and near this lake and rippling brook, industriously 
plied their callings. The pen of the novelist has gilded 
their traditions, and the poet's fancy here found a theme for 
the exercise of its imagery. The artist, with pencil and 
brush, has transferred the landscape to his canvas ; and it is 
certainly appropriate for the antiquary to come, and by his 
records epitomize the lives of those whose tenacious efforts, 
won from these surroundings an honorable fame and the 
blessings of long life and ample competence. 



THE ELIOT OAK. 



The identity of the Eliot Oak is a subject that has been 
much discussed of late. To ascertain the facts and put the 
question to rest, the Historical Society chose a committee 
to make careful investigation and report at the next regular 
meeting. The following is the substance of the report : 

The earlier records or traditions of the village indicate 
that there were three oak trees once, of considerable size, 
near the site of the Eliot church, the third forming a triangle 
with the two so well known, and located near the residence 
of Mrs. White. This tree and the one which stood near the 
site of the drinking fountain were red oaks, and the one now 
standing a white oak. 

The oak is a family of many different members. Its his- 
tory has been very carefully studied, and the facts can be as- 
certained by any one who will consult the standard works 
on the subject. See "Emerson's Forest Trees." 

The report of the committee, above mentioned, presented 
the following facts, viz. : 

The red oak is a tree of rapid growth. One of this spe- 
cies examined by the committee showed seventy-seven years 
growth, and measured three and one-half feet in diameter. 
It was also noted that the thickness of growth for two con- 



Si'coi/d Fi lid- Da v. o7 

sccutivc years was one-halt" inch each year, which wouUl give 
an increase of six inches in circumference in two years. The 
best authority on the oak states that the red oak requires 
one hundred years to come to maturity, and one hundred 
more for its decay — making the life of the red oak about 
two hundred years. 

The white oak is a tree of very slow growth, requiring 
about three hundred years to reach its full growth, about 
three hundred more for maturity, and a like period for decay. 
This computation gives to the white oak a life of about nine 
hundred years. 

Let us now apply thc'^e facts to the trees in question. The 
red oak, which stood where the drinking fountain now stands, 
was a very large tree, and as long ago as elderly people can 
remember, the tree was much decayed. Many people thought 
the tree might have remained some years longer than it did ; 
but in 1842, on the 25th of May, the tree was cut down, and 
those who were responsible for the act claimed that it was 
liable to fall at any time, and that it was dangerous for it to 
stand any longer. Now, suppose the tree to have reached 
its uttermost age of two hundred years : it is evident that 
in 1642 it was just sprouting from the acorn. 

Let us now apjily the facts to the white oak. The tree is 
still standing, in^good condition, and promises to outlive 
even the youngest inhabitant of tlic village. It is evident, 
however, that it has passed its prime ; it has not increased 
in size for many years, and it is stated that the tree meas- 
ures less in circumference now than it did half a century 
ago. The tree is in its decline, and those most competent 
to judge believe it to be from five to eight hundred years 
old. 

These are the facts concerning these two trees, given as 
accurately as careful study has revealed them. 

When any one wishes to know which of the oaks was 
really the Eliot Oak, he must apply the facts and answer the 
question for himself. Wlicn the Apostle I'^liot came to this 



58 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

place in 1650, to Christianize the Indians, before the first 
church was built, it is said he gathered the Indians under a 
large oak tree and preached to them and taught them. If 
the red oak be taken at its oldest estimate, it was just peep- 
ing from the ground in 1642 ; and when the Apostle Eliot 
gathered his Indian followers about him, this red oak in 
question was a sapling of about eight years growth. 

If we take the white oak at even the smallest estimate, 
when the Apostle first came to this "place of hill" it was a 
tree nearly three hundred years old. 

In view of the facts,* it seems more than probable that the 
Apostle would gather his hearers in the cool shade of those 
branches, which had been reaching out and up for almost 
three centuries, instead of calling them around a tiny tree of 
eight summers, and whose shade would have been but a 
slight protection even for the preacher alone. 

Seventy-five years ago the red oak was much the larger 
tree, and from its decayed condition appeared to be much 
older than the white oak. It is, therefore, easy to under- 
stand why many supposed the red oak to be the Eliot Oak. 

In a matter of history it is not the opinions of traditions, 
but the facts, which carry the weight of the argument. It 
is easy to ascertain whether the above is a statement of 
facts ; and if it be a correct statement, the unanswerable ar- 
gument of facts points to the white oak, now standing, as the 
Eliot Oak of history and of fame. 



THIRD FIELD-DAY 



OF THE 



Seulli !i(ili(i. 



The third annual field meeting of the Historical, Natural 
History and Library Society was held Tuesday, May i, 1883. 
The Society's museum and the library were open to the pub- 
lic at ten o'clock a. m., and were not closed until nearly one 
o'clock p. m., during which time there were many interested 
visitors present. 

Lunch was served to invited guests in Eliot Hall, at noon. 
About fifty persons were present, among whom were D. T. 
V. Huntoon, Esq., Fred Endicott, Esq., C. V. Sumner, Esq., 
and others of the Canton Historical Society ; representatives 
of the Dedham Historical Society ; Hon. Amos Perry and 
Dr. Charles W. Parsons of the R. I. Historical Society, and 
Wm. B. Trask, Esq., and Rev. S. D. Hosmer of the N. E. 
Historic-Genealogical Society ; also, the venerable Seth 
Davis, Esq., and ex-Gov. Wm. Claflin of Newton, Hon. S. H. 
Noyes and Rev. W. H. Savory of Canton, Rev. H. Il Steb- 
bins of South Boston, and others. 

At one p. m. the company assembled in the Unitarian 
church. Arranged in front of the pulpit were a number of 
articles recently presented the H., N. H. and L. Society. 
Among them were a set of astronomical instruments made 
by Seth Davis fifty years ago and presented by liim ; a pair 
of steel shoe buckles from Charles Woodworth ; a Latin 
primer, published in 181 3, presented by Amos Perry; an 
immense key that once unlocked No. 213 Washington 



60 Historical, NaT. Hist, and Lib. Soc'y of South Natick. 

street, Boston — a perfect Jumbo; wire mask and silk 
embroidery, presented by Mrs. Richards ; two odd silk slip- 
pers, worn by Mrs. Eliot, later by Mrs. Captain Brown of 
South Natick in 1768-80; elbow ornaments, piece of bed- 
quilt, black silk brocade, etc., by Mrs. E. D. Hartwell ; alli- 
gator skin from Louisiana, by Otis Chickering ; books from 
Elijah Perry, etc. 

Dr. G. J. Townsend, president of the society, called the 
meeting to order, speaking in substance as follows : 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you in behalf of 
the Historical, Natural History and Library Society, to this, 
our third field day ; and we hope to show you, before our 
excursion is accomplished, that we have not yet exhausted 
all the localities of historical interest in our vicinity. Our 
course to-day will lead us into one place in Dover, which, 
from its close proximity, seems to belong to us, and also 
into Wellesley, as far as the outlet of Lake VVaban. This 
outlet, once familiarly known as Saw-Mill Brook, was the 
original boundary separating the towns of Natick and Ded- 
ham, now Needham. The present boundaries were estab- 
lished in 1797. Elijah Perry, Esq., as chairman of the com- 
mittee of arrangements, will introduce to you the speakers 
and readers. 

Mr. Perry then introduced Rev. C. A. Staples of Lexing- 
ton, who delivered the following address : 



THE VILLAGES OF THE PRAYING INDIANS. 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Historical Society : 

It is a singular fact that while the charter of the Massa- 
chusetts Company declares that "the principal object of this 
plantation is to Christianize the Indians," and while the 
colony seal bears the figure of an Indian, with extended 
arms, crying, "Come over and help us," no systematic 
effort was made to accomplish this object until nearly twenty 



Third Fiil<f-Day. Gl 

years after the first settlement. ICven then the work was 
taken up and carried on by a single individual, almost un- 
aided. To Rev. John Eliot belont^s the credit of inaugurat- 
ing: this great enterprise. In the face of the sternest diffi- 
culties, sometimes bitterest opposition, he steadily pursued 
it for many years, without compensation and in addition to 
his duties as pastor of the First Church in Roxbury. Before 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the In- 
dians had been formed in England, which afterwards ren- 
dered him such valuable assistance, Eliot was making him- 
self master of their language and preaching the Gospel to 
the Indians at Nonantum. He gave two years to the study 
of their tongue, using for his teachers the brightest young 
men among them, before attempting to preach. For more 
than five years he continued this laborious and self-sacrific- 
ing work, before establishing the first Indian village here in 
165 1. At the wigwam of the Indian chief Waban, a little 
way south of the falls on Charles river, at Watertown, in 
October, 1646, Eliot gathered his first congregation of Indi- 
ans, and preached his first sermon in their own language. 
It must have been a strange and interesting scene — these 
wild rovers of the wilderness gathered about him listening to 
the simple truths of the Gospel, as they fell from the lips of 
this loving and consecrated man, who, like the great apos- 
tle to the Gentiles, could truly say, " I seek not yours, but 
you." From that time until his death, nearly fifty years 
afterwards, he never wavered in the confidence that these 
benighted children of the forest were capable of becoming 
enlightened an 1 worthy Christians, nor faltered in his devo- 
tion to their material and spiritu U interests. All honor to 
that heroic and noble soul ! Single handed and alone, trust- 
ing in God and the power of his truth, impelled by a solemn 
conviction of duty and in the spirit of Christ himself, Eliot 
sought to win this people to the Christian faith and the joys 
and comforts of civilized life. No mm in all our history has 
left a record of loftier aims, of vaster achievements or of a 
more beautiful Christian character. 



62 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of So?itk Natick. 

One of the most unworldly and unselfish of men, he took 
little interest in the common affairs of life ; thouo^ht nothing 
apparently of his own comfort, or material advancement ; 
knew so little about his own property that his cattle feeding 
before his door, he supposed belonged to his neighbors ; 
sometimes gave away so much of his little salary among the 
poor that his family suffered for ordinary comforts and 
would have been reduced to beggary had it not been for the 
careful and sagacious management of his noble wife ; yet, in 
whatever pertained to his work among the Indians, in the 
cause of education among his own people, in plans affecting 
the interests of the colony and the church, he was a man of 
great practical wisdom. It may be fairly questioned, I think, 
if his methods of dealing with this difficult matter of Indian 
civilization and christianization were not as wise and effect- 
ual as any that have been devised since his day. And, 
indeed, looking at the plans which he pursued and the suc- 
cess whioh he won, I am impressed by the fact that Eliot 
worked out this problem two hundred and thirty years ago, 
in the only rational and satisfactory way, and that if we are 
now dealing with the matter more successfully than ever 
before, it is because we have adopted more of Eliot's meth- 
ods and are working more truly in his spirit. 

Eliot's recipe for Christianizing an Indian was that of the 
oft-quoted Mrs. Glass' for dressing a hare: "First catch 
the hare." He believed it was a hopeless task until the 
Indian was put into some kind of permanent dwelling, 
brought into daily contact with his fellows in settled com- 
munities, governed by English laws and customs, taught to 
gain a living by tilling the soil or working at a trade, and in- 
structed in the ideas and usages of civilized life. To use his 
own language, " I find it absolutely necessary to carry on 
civility with religion." That the Indians must be civilized 
in order to be christianized, was a fundamental maxim with 
him. One season of hunting, he said, undid all his mission- 
ary work. Industry and cleanlrness, good order and good 



Third Field-Day. 63 

government are the prime conditions, he maintained, of 
moral and relij^ious i-)ro«^ress. Hence, the first step was to 
gather the Indians into villages of their own, as far removed 
as possible from the English settlements and under the i'n- 
struction of wise teachers and faithful pastors. 

Here, at Natick, he made the first experiment. A grant 
of land was made by the General Court for this specific pur- 
pose, embracing a tract four miles square and containing, by 
estimation, 6,000 to 8,000 acres. Three streets were laid 
out parallel to the river, two upon the north side and one 
upon the south ; and the ground was divided into building 
lots, with yards and gardens attached. A fort was built up- 
on this very spot, I believe, where we are assembled, of a 
circular form and pallisaded. Within the fort a large house 
was erected, 50 feet in length and 25 feet in width, and two 
stories in height ; the lower story, forming one large room, 
was used for worship on Sundays and for a school on week 
days. Above was a general storage room, where the Indians 
hung their furs and other articles kept for sale ; and in one 
corner a room was made for Eliott supplied with a bed and 
bedstead, exclusively for his use when visiting them. This 
building was erected by the Indians alone, excepting two 
days work of an English carpenter. Along the streets their 
houses were built, some after the English mode, some after 
the Indian. They did not like the English houses, prefering 
their own style of architecture as more convenient and com- 
fortable. Between the north and south side of the river 
they constructed a foot-bridge of timbers, in the form of an 
arch and resting upon abutments of stone. This was so se- 
curely built that it withstood the Spring freshets unharmed, 
when the bridge at Medfield, built by the English, was 
swept away : a fact highly gratifying to the pride of the 
Indians. They cleared the forests and broke up the ground. 
They built fences of stone and wood, enclosing their gardens 
and fields. They planted orchards, raised good crops of 
grain and hay, kept cattle, horses, swine and fowls. Several 



64 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

trades were represented among them, such as carpenters, 
masons and blacksmiths. They made baskets, shingles and 
clap-boards from the forests, and gathered furs of the fox 
and the beaver, so that a considerable trade with the towns 
below was carried on from this Indian village, and the peo- 
ple lived in comparative comfort on the fruits of their toil. 
Such is the industrial picture, as we find it in Capt. Daniel 
Gookin's report of 1674, after the village had been planted 
here for twenty-three years. At this time there were 29 
families, numbering about 150 souls. Between 40 and 50 of 
these were members of the Church or communicants. 
Eliot was exceedingly cautious however, in admitting his 
converts to church membership. He examined them very 
carefully regarding their experience and their opinions. He 
kept them a long time under probation, watching their con- 
duct to see if they gave evidence of a real change of heart. 
It was not without great hesitation that he finally organized 
a church, nine years after the planting of the village, or in 
1660, and admitted them, to full church fellowship. At first 
he was the only preacher, and the Indians were unwilling to 
hear anybody besides their loving and devoted friend. But 
gradually he prepared young" men among themselves to fill 
his place ; and ultimately all the teaching, preaching and pas- 
toral care devolved upon Indians whom he had converted 
and raised up for the work. The school and the church 
were under their direction, subject to his oversight and con- 
trol. Two religious services were held on Sunday, and a 
service on lecture and fast days, much after the English or- 
der. The Indians attended them faithfully and joined rever- 
ently in the worship. They were permitted by Eliot to ask 
any questions regarding the subject of the sermon, which 
might occur to them : very curious and often very shrewd 
and keen these questions were. 

Once a week, in summer, Eliot lectured here on " Logic 
and Theology," thus establishing, more than two centuries 
ago, a sort of Indian School of Philosophy and Theology. 



Scfout/ Fiilii-J^ay. 65 

He wanted to train their minds to the habit of elose and ex- 
act thinking", so as to make this village a seminary to pre- 
pare young men for teaching and preaching in other Indian 
villages. Two Indian teachers were employed in the school 
at the time of Gookin's report — Anthony and John Speen. 
Two constables were chosen annually by the Indians them- 
selves, to enfore the laws and preserve order. A marshal- 
general, also an In.lian, — having jurisdiction over all the 
praying villages, — was appointed by the Court. Waban was 
justice of the peace : a person of great prudence and piety, 
held in high esteem both by the Indians and the English. 
Waban was not learned in the technicalities of law ; but he 
had a very clear perception of justice, and executed it in a 
summary and impartial way. The following is a copy of a 
warrant issued by him for the arrest of a certain troublesome 
offender : " You, you big Constable, quick you catch um 
Jeremiah Offscow ; strong you hold um, safe you bring um 
before me. Waban, Justice of the Peace." We have also 
an interesting sentence of Waban's, in a case between some 
drunken Indians of Nonantum : "Constable, tie um all up; 
and whip um plaintiff, and whip um 'fendant, and whip um 
witness" — a method of treating offences against the peace 
and well-being of the community highly conducive to good 
government. Such is the picture given us by Capt. Gookin 
in his report to the Society for Propogating the Gospel 
among the Indians in 1674. For more than twenty years 
the experiment had then been carried on in this place, and it 
had prin-ed eminently successful. A well-ordered and pros- 
perous village had been established, with its varied industries. 
A school and church were maintained under the care of na- 
tive teachers and preachers. Many young men had been edu- 
cated an.l trained up to fill places of usefulness in the work. 
More than one-half of the adult population were church 
members. All w^-re living in comfortable dwellings, kept in 
a tidy condition. A larger proportion of the people could 
rearl and write than in some European countries to-day. And 



66 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

though there were drunkenness and petty crimes among the 
Indians gathered here, especially those who had not become 
distinctively Christian ; still, for the most part, life was de- 
cent in outward appearance, pure in morality, and externally 
religious. The Bible was read in these humble homes, 
morning and evening prayer was observed in them, and the 
Sunday worship was engaged in faithfully and fervently. 
Under the watchful eye and guiding hand of Eliot, a hu- 
manizing and elevating influence had been established, which 
gave promise of beneficent and far reaching results. 

Nor was this work confined to the single Indian village 
of Natick. Eliot had been constantly pushing it out farther 
and farther into the wilderness, among the various tribes 
within the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. The same 
methods were pursued in other places, with the same results. 
And though Natick was the oldest of these Indian villages, 
and here, under the special and constant care of our great 
Apostle, a higher and larger success was attained, still the 
others deserve at least a brief mention. 

The second of these experiments was tried at Pakemit or 
Punkapog, now Canton. In 1674, Gookin reports this village 
as containing 12 families, or 60 souls, having a grant of ter- 
ritory nearly as large as Natick, or 6,000 acres, with its ruler 
or justice of the peace, constable and schoolmaster. They 
had their Sunday worship, but no organized church. Rev. 
John Eliot, Jr., preached here on lecture days once a fort- 
night for many years. At this time they had recently lost an 
Indian teacher whom Gookin speaks of as " a very able and 
knowing person, who spoke English well and was of genteel 
appearance." Planting, keeping cattle and swine and fishing 
were the principal occupations. A large cedar swamp near 
the village was a source of considerable income. Here, he 
says, they made " many a pound by getting out shingles and 
clapboards and selling them in Boston." But the village of 
Punkapog is not regarded as being in so hopeful a condition 
as Natick ; indeed, we may plainly see that it was already 
beginning to wane and decay. 



Third Field-Day. 67 

Hassanamcsit, now Grafton, was the third of these pray- 
ing towns. The name signifies a place of small stones. It 
was situated in the Nipmuck country, two miles east of the 
Nipmuck river, now the Blackstone, upon a great hill over- 
looking the surrounding country. It contained about 12 
families, or 60 souls, and " was not inferior," Gookin says, 
"to any of the Indian plantations for rich land, plenty of 
meadow, well tempered and well watered." They raised an 
abundance of corn, grain and fruit. They had planted sev- 
eral good orchards from which, alas, they drew a generous 
supply of cider, affording means for beastly intoxication. 
"They are so little used to spirituous drink of any kind, says 
Gookin, that half a pint of cider quite overcomes and mad- 
dens them. They have not the grace to use it with modera- 
tion. On the whole, it is an apt place for cattle and swine. 
Hassanamesit is the best provided with material comfort of 
any village of its size." 

Ana-weakin is their ruler ; Tack-uppa-willin, his brother, 
is their teacher — a pious and able man. The father is dea- 
con of the church, and another son is a press-man, employed 
by Eliot on the Indian Bible. " The father, mother, brothers 
and their wives are all reputed pious persons and the prin- 
cipal studs of the town." They have a meeting house built 
after the English fashion, and some other houses of the same 
style. They live by keeping cattle and swine, and by other 
husbandry, in which they excel all other Indians. The sec- 
ond Indian church was gathered here in 1671 ; it has 16 
men and women in full communion. Thus the plantation is 
in a hopeful and prosperous condition. Such is the account 
given of the third Indian village. It is sad to recall the fact 
that the very next year, in King Philip's war, this fair prom- 
ise was utterly destroyed : a night attack was made upon 
the Indians here by a detachment of troops, sent up from 
Mendon under St. Curtis, who was killed in the attack ; and 
this is the last we hear of the praying Indians of Hassana- 
mesit. 



68 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

The fourth of these villages was Ok-amma-kam-esit, now 
Marlborough, containing lo families, or 50 souls. It is of 
the same extent as the others already mentioned, having 
6,000 acres. The land is fertile and yields large crops of 
corn and is well husbanded. It is well watered and well 
wooded and well supplied with meadow, making it a desira- 
ble place for keeping stock. Several fine orchards have 
been planted by the Indians, and it is a very good plantation. 
It is near to the English settlement of Marlborough : and this 
causes a great deal of trouble, the English being desirous of 
obtaining some of the Indian lands. They are governed by a 
justice, with a constable, and have their school and their 
worship ; but nothing is said about a church organization, or 
a church building. 

Wamesit, the fifth of the praying towns, occupied a neck of 
land where Concord river falls into the Merrimac, and con- 
tained only 2,500 acres. This embraces apart of. the present 
site of Lowell. Fifteen families were gathered here, num- 
bering 70 or 80 people. It was a great place for fishing, and 
in the height of the season drew together large numbers of 
Indians, some of whom are represented as peculiarly the 
minions of Satan. Eliot came each year with Gookin, who 
held court here on the first of May, and " spread the net of 
the Gospel to catch Indian souls." It was a great opportun- 
ity, and most faithfully did the Apostle improve it ; but he 
says the work was sadly hindered by the idle and improvi- 
dent who hung around, Satan making use of them. The 
place was noted for abundance of horses ; and, with fishing 
and horse racing in the ascendant, little progress in civil- 
izing and Christianizing the Indians seems to have been 
made. Wannalancet was the Indian chief here, and Eliot 
held meetings in his wigwam. He was "son of the great 
Sachem, Passaconway. But while respectful and kind to- 
wards Eliot, he was very shy of embracing his faith. At 
last, after one of the good man's fervent appeals, Wannalan- 
cet arose and said, " Hitherto I have rode on the great river 



Third Fie hi- Day. 69 

in the old canoe, antl it seemed to me not wise to leave it for 
a new one ; but now I have resolved to chan<;e and trust my- 
self on the river in the new canoe." F'rom this time he be- 
came a praying Indian and enrolled himself as one of Eliot's 
converts. There remain two more of the old Indian villages 
to speak of. The sixth was Nashobah, now Littleton, with 
its lO families, and 50 souls, living by corn planting, fishing 
and labor for the I^^nglish. Here, also, were extensive and 
fruitful orchards yielding much cider, which proved sadly de- 
moralizing to Indian virtue. It seems never to have attained 
much prosperity ; but, like the others, it had its own govern- 
ment, school and worship, and doubtless, like the others, was 
a means of accomplishing some good. 

Finally, we have Magunkook, now Hopkinton, the name 
signifying a place of great trees. It was partly within the 
bounds of Natick, and contained 3,000 acres, with 1 1 families 
of 50 or 60 souls. It had an organised church of eight mem- 
bers, and fifteen baptized persons. The Indians planted up- 
on a great hill where the land was very fertile. They had an 
abundance of corn, kept cattle, horses and swine and had a 
prosperous plantation. Gookin says, this was the last set- 
tling of the old Indian towns. But beyond these were seven 
new praying toyvns, located in what is now Oxford, Dudley, 
Uxbridge, Woodstock and Worcester, — Woodstock having 
three villages, regarded as belonging to the Masschusetts 
colony. In addition to these, there were two villages of 
praying Indians partially formed in Brookfield. Making al- 
together nine of these new praying towns in the Nipmuck 
country. The entire population of the fourteen old and new 
towns is estimated at eleven hunflred. In these there were 
but two organized churches, viz., Natick and Ilassanamesit, 
though services of worship were held with some degree of 
regularity in all. 

Having taken this hasty survey of the work inaugurated by 
Flliot, at the time when it had reachetl its highest point of suc- 
cess, it seems fitting, in conclusion, to say a few words touch- 



70 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

ing its interruption and decline. After King Philip's war, it 
never regained its former prosperity. The English people 
had very little confidence in the reality of Indian conver- 
sions. They looked with suspicion and distrust upon Eliot's 
work, and threw many obstacles in the way of its prosecu- 
tion. Had it not been for the substantial aid which he re- 
ceived from the Society in England, amounting in a single 
year to more than X500, he could never have accomplished 
anything like what he did, in the way of civilizing and 
Christianizing the Indians, or in translating and publishing 
the Bible in their tongue. 

On the breaking out of that terrible war, which threat- 
ened at one time the entire destruction of the English 
settlements, and which was attended by the most horrible 
outrages, the English distrust of the praying Indians was 
greatly intensified. The worst reports about them were 
credited ; they were believed to be in league with Philip, be- 
traying the English and leading his movements. It was 
said that some of them had been recognized lighting the 
fires that destroyed the white man's dwelling, and brandish- 
ing the tomahawk that butchered his family. And these 
stories grew and multiplied as they were passed from mouth 
to mouth while this devastation went on. The English were 
panic stricken, and believed that every Indian was a barba- 
rian and a fiend, to be shot with as little ceremony as a mad 
dog. It was in vain that Eliot and Gookin plead for them, 
showing that very few, if any, had left their villages to ally 
themselves with the enemy. The people demanded their 
immediate removal to a place of safety, where they could do 
no harm. The villages were accordingly broken up, the In- 
dians torn from their comfortable homes, their harvests and 
their flocks, and placed upon a bleak island in Boston harbor, 
where in "hunger and cold they were kept during the Winter 
of 1675-6. It was a pitiful sight, these half clad, half starved 
creatures huddled together there, with little shelter from 
the driving storm and the bitter cold, hundreds sick and 



Third Ficld-Day. 71 

many dyinji^ for the comforts of their homes. And yet, sub- 
missive and uncomplaining under the cruel suspicion and 
harsh treatment, showing the spirit of Christian patience and 
forgiveness. And when, at last, the English reluctantly 
called upon them for help, in that life and death struggle, 
they sprang to their aid, and gave them the benefit of their 
sagacity and cunning in dealing with the wily foe, and proved 
faithful unto the end. It is said that it was this very ele- 
ment in the bloody fight which turned the scale in favor of 
the English, and saved their settlements from utter destruc- 
tion ; that had it not been for the 3,000 praying Indians of 
the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies, thus withdrawn 
from Philip's support and many of them turned actively 
against him, it is not improbable that every Englishman 
would have perished or been driven from these shores. 
When we recall the suspicion and hostility with which 
these poor souls were regarded and the brutal outrages com- 
mitted upon them in their peaceful homes ; when we remem- 
ber how strong must have been the craving of their nature 
for the old savage life, and the ties which bound them to 
their brothers and friends leading on the bloody fray, it is 
amazing that they were not all drawn to Philip's side to be- 
come his efficient and faithful allies. And yet, it is not cer- 
tainly proved that one was ever detected in any outrage 
against the English ; we know that nine-tenths of them were 
utterly loyal to the English, and proved their most eflficient 
aids, if not the salvation of their settlements in New 
England. 

After the war, the Indians were permitted to return to 
their villages. The IZnglish now believed that Eliot's work 
had been really effective in subduing and civilizing these 
wild sons of the forest ; and they regarded them with new 
interest and respect. But, alas, their homes were in ruins, 
their fields and flocks had been well-nigh destroyed. Very 
disheartening was the prospect before them ; and the memo- 
ry of unprovoked outrages, and of harsh and cruel treatment, 



72 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

remained rankling in their bosoms. The work that seemed 
so hopefully begun before the war, and gave such promise of 
wide and permanent usefulness, was almost ruined ; and from 
this time the villages of the praying Indians rapidly sunk 
into neglect and oblivion. 

In 1684, eight years after the war, Eliot says there were 
but four villages left. And after his own death, in 1690, we 
hear but little more of them. Rev. Grandal Rawson of 
Mendon visited Natick in 1698, and reports that he found 
here a small church of seven men and three women, of which 
the Indian, Daniel Takawambpait, was the pastor. In the 
village were living 59 men, 51 women and 70 children under 
sixteen years of age — a larger population than at any time 
during Eliot's life, so far as we know. And the lamentable 
fact is also noted that there was no school here, and only 
one child that could read. The village continued to exist as 
an Indian village or town until 1763, a hundred and twelve 
years from its organization, when it was reorganized as an 
English town. At that time there were but 37 Indians in the 
place; and thirty years later, or in 1792, but one Indian 
family remained, containing five persons. Probably this 
statement has reference to those of pure Indian blood. Has- 
sanamesit, or Grafton, retained a few Indians down to the 
same date ; but after this they quickly disappear, and the 
last of the old praying Indian towns drops out of sight 
forever. 

In my childhood, I well remember that in a large tract of 
woodland near my father's house, in Mendon, was a wigwam 
which belonged to the Natick Indians. They appeared to 
be of one family, and bore the name of Pease : a mother, 
with several sons and their wives and children. They occu- 
pied this wigwam during the Spring and Summer, but in the 
early Autumn left it for their more permanent home in 
Natick. They were of mixed Indian, Negro and English 
blood, and lived a wild, roving life — hunting and fishing, 
basket making and cultivating a garden around their wig- 



Third Ficld-Day. 73 

warn. Evidently they had already adopted the now popular 
custom of having a city and country residence ! As I recall 
their besotted, filthy, wretched appearance, as they streamed 
along the road, hatless and shoeless, followed by their hungry 
dogs, the women bearing their packs of household goods, the 
men carrying their fish poles, I say, surely this cannot be the 
highest outcome of that noble enterprise which Eliot here 
inaugurated and carried on for so many years ! It was con- 
ceived in a holy sense of duty ; it was prosecuted in a spirit 
of Christian sacrifice and love ; it recognized bonds of broth- 
erhood between the red man and the white man, and sought 
to lift up a poor, benighted race to the plane of civilized and 
Christian life. No such work ever wholly fails : it has an 
elevating and refining power upon those who are engaged in 
it, and it contributes something of permanent worth to the 
stream of helpful, saving influences bearing the world on to 
nobler life. 



ADDRESS BY REV. GEO. E. ELLIS, D. D. 

I came here to-day, by your kind invitation, to attend 
these exercises, backed by that of my esteemed friend, Mr. 
Hunnewell, that I would be his guest on the occasion. But 
neither invitation suggested or implied that I should be 
called upon for any public utterance. Yet I cheerfully an- 
swer to your request. How could I fail to do so.-* I could 
not avow that I have nothing to say on a subject and upon a 
scene which have for many years engaged my interest, my 
thoughts and my historical researches. Here, near the site 
of the Indian meeting house, amid the scenes and surround- 
ings of the loving and consecrated labors of the Apostle 
Eliot, I feel the spell of a power which gives me a theme 
and utterance. The spot is an impressive one, for the noble 
and holy work which was begun here amid incalculable per- 
plexities and obstacles, for the auspices of promise and hap- 



74 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

py success which for a while cheered it, and also for the 
melancholy and tragic shadows of disaster and catastrophe 
which brought it all to nought. The address to which we 
have so gratefully listened has told the story faithfully, elo- 
quently and touchingly. 

During the nearly four centuries which have passed since 
the red man and the white man on this continent were first 
brought to each other's knowledge, to the present time and 
the present relations between the representatives of the two 
races, two men have justly earned and nobly borne, — though 
without having claimed or assumed the title, — the one, 
"The Apostle to the Indies," the other, "The Apostle to 
the Indians." The two differed in birth-time by more than 
a century and a quarter of years. Far wider and more sig- 
nificant was the division or distinction between them, as 
representing the extremes of variance and conflict between 
their Christian creeds, their views and beliefs as to the 
methods and conditions of conversion, discipleship and sal- 
vation. But such were the harmonies of soul and purpose, 
of zeal and love, of toil and self-consecration, between , those 
two men, that if they could have met and known each other, 
it would have been as friends and brethren. One of them 
was a Dominican monk, the other was an English Puritan of 
the original and exemplary pattern. The one died at the age 
of ninety-two, the other at the age of eighty-six, — in labors 
more saddened for both of them than crowned with further 
hope or success. 

My studies have recently been engaging me in a thorough 
inquiry into the life, the personal character, and the mission- 
ary work of Father Bartholemi Las Casas, the Apostle to 
the Indies. The annals and biographies of Christendom, in 
all their compass, do not present to us a nobler or more de- 
voted, more toiling, self-sacrificing, all-enduring man than 
he. If the heavenly realms were to send down to us one 
whom we should all love and revere, — seeing in him as a 
spirit without earthly stain or guile, a ministry of grace and 



Third Field-Day. 75 

help, — it might well be Las Casas. While he was a youth 
at a Spanish university, his father was a companion of Co- 
lumbus in his first voyage of discovery here. In 1498, at the 
age of twenty-four, he came to Hispaniola with Columbus. 
Fourteen times, in the perilous and uncomfortable naviga- 
tion of those days, did he cross the ocean between Spain and 
America, simply on errands of mercy. 

At his first coming here, he was a witness of those atroc- 
ities and fiendish cruelties and tortures so wanton in their 
direful havoc, with which the Spanish invaders well-nigh de- 
populated our islands and gulf regions of an innocent, gentle 
and friendly race of native men and women, having in them 
the least of a savage nature of any of our aborigines. We 
owe to Las Casas our knowledge of these outrages and bar- 
barities in all their revolting details, so hideous and blood- 
curdling that it would be an offence to taste, humanity and 
propriety to enter into a detail or relation of them. He saw 
them as they showed themselves to his tender and tortured 
spirit. Over and over again did he cross the seas to testify 
and protest before the monarchs of Spain, at times with 
hopefulness of restraining and redressing the foul wrong. 
But rapacity, greed for gold and pearls, the mad rage for 
conquest, and all the intrigues and entanglements of cun- 
ning men and policy, baffled his purposes ; and when he had 
secured authority from the sovereigns, who yielded to the 
pathos of his indignation and appeals, he returned here only 
to be thwarted in all efforts. Hut he was never disheartened, 
never silenced. He dared the threats and grasp of the In- 
quisition, for he had even priests and prelates against him. 
He denied the right of the Pope to confer, and that of the 
monarchs of Castile and Leon to accept and hold, the sover- 
eignty of the New World, except on the condition and for 
the purpose of bringing the natives into the Christian fold, 
claiming for them the privileges of life and humanity, even 
as heathen — yes, even if they were idolaters. His pen was 
as busy as his spirit. Essays, arguments, exposures and ap- 



76 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

peals, all relating to the atrocities of Spanish cruelty, came 
in a stream from him. These were surreptitiously printed, 
and translated into all the languages of Europe, with engrav- 
ings all too faithfully presenting the shuddering scenes 
which the text described. It was only a few years ago that 
the Spanish government allowed his full " History of the 
Indies," so long secreted in manuscript, to appear in print. 

I pass to that other Apostle, John Eliot, whose labors 
amid these scenes have been so happily rehearsed to you. 
Whenever I drive or walk through these regions, I love to 
recall the image of that pure, child-like, intrepid and devoted 
man. After he had lingeringly and patiently prepared the 
stages of his fond experiment here, it was his habit about 
once in a fortnight, intermitting his arduous duties to his 
church in Roxbury, to ride up here on horseback to superin- 
tend progress. He, himself, more than anyone else, opened 
these roads. I can present him to my mind's eye, with a 
huge pack behind his saddle, a wallet before him or hung 
from his shoulder, and his pockets full of cakes and apples 
for the pappooses. The huge pack contained a curious med- 
ley. It was Eliot's custom — as what is selfishness in most 
of us, was an importunate beggary for others in him — to 
put all his friends, far and wide, and even strangers, under 
contribution for his naked forest wards. So that pack con- 
tained cast-off apparel of every kind, old horse blankets, and 
pieces of sails, even rags, to invest with stages of decency 
these decendants of Adam, for whom the Lord had not 
" made breeches," as an old English version of the Bible 
gives the text. In his private wallet was some frugal food 
which the thrifty Mrs. Eliot always prepared for him, to be 
eaten in his private room in the attic of the meeting house. 
For his English — shall we say stomach ? but I think it was 
something more delicate than that — made him shrink from 
the cookery of Indian housewives. Blessed be, blessed is, 
the memory of that good Christian man ! 



Thini I-ichi-Dny. 77 

Mr. President, the society now keepint; its anniversary 
here was formed none too soon for its grateful purpose. For 
every successive year it will retain and increase its interest. 
For we have begun to care for — to cherish — oiir local an- 
tiquarian sites and objects of historic association, and to 
identify and mark them. Strange, how forgetfulness and 
oblivion creep over them ! I have been gravely told by one 
person, that Eliot's body rests under yonder monument to 
him in your green. And again, by another, that he was 
buried under Nonantum Hill. The real place of deposit of 
his dust has an interesting association connected with it. 
It seems strange to remind ourselves of a time and a state 
of things when our roving New Flngland adventurers on for- 
eign seas were made captives and held as slaves for ransom 
by the pirates of the Northern African coast. Hut so it was. 
We read of collections taken in our meeting houses on Sun- 
day, to ransom such white slaves — some of their own mem- 
bers. A collection had been made in Ro.xbury for one of 
Eliot's people, William Bowen by name, about 1686, to re- 
lieve him from captivity by the Turks. Ikit he dying before 
relief reached him, the money was used for building a tomb 
for the ministers of the Ro.xbury church. Mrs. Eliot was its 
first occupant. There the "Apostle" was laid, in May, 1690. 
Several of his successors rest there. 



Elijah Perry next introduced Seth Davis, Esq., of Newton, 
who is in his 96th year, for 25 years master of the Davis 
Academy. 

Mr. Davis responded with very fitting remarks. He ques- 
tioned if Mr. Perry " had ever called upon one of his age to 
speak in public on the stage." Thirty odd years had passed 
since he had taught the young idea how to shoot. Among 
those of his scholars who have " made their mark," he num- 
bered ex-Gov. Rice, T. B. Hager, and George Bemis. He 
closed with a touching reference to his age and the proba- 
bilitv that he never again would speak in public. 



78 Historical, NaT. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

The following letters were next presented by H. L. Morse 
secretary of the committee : 

April 25th, 1883. 
My Dear Mr. Perry : — Since I saw you at the Massachu- 
setts club I find that I am engaged at Mansfield on the first 
of May and so cannot attend your Field day at South Natick. 
I thank you for your courteous invitation and wish you a 
very pleasant occasion. Truly yours, 

John D. Long. 

Dedham, April 24th, 1883. 
Elijah Perry, Esq. : 

My Dear Sir, — Many thanks for the card of invitation 
from the Historical society of Natick to be present at their 
meeting on May day. I should take great pleasure in being 
present on the occasion, as it relates to subjects in which I 
take a great interest, and if possible I shall attend. But I 
much fear that my official duties on that day will detain me. 

Very sincerely, yours, 

E. Worthington. 

Cincinnati, April 24th, 1883. 
Mr. Elijah Perry : 

Dear Sir, — I have this morning received the circular and 
invitation of your committee to be present on the occasion 
of the Field-Day of your Historical, Natural History and 
Library Society. I cherish the hope of sometime finding 
you and of traversing with you the scenes and events to be 
commemorated on that day, although I can scarcely hope to 
find an occasion which will be so interesting as to be with 
you in carrying out the admirable programme of the Third 
Annual Field-Day. I am sorry that my engagements will 
not permit. I can only request you to accept and make 
known to the other members of the committee my thanks 
for the invitation. Four of the five names on your commit- 
tee were, in my childhood in Vermont, familiar names of 
neighbors and friends, viz. : Perry, Townsend, Cheney and 



Third Fuld-Dav. 79 

Morse, all, I think, from Massachusetts. Whether any of 
cither name can now be found in the same nei£;hborhood, 
otherwise than upon tomb-stones and old records, I do not 
know, except as I know that none of my name can. The 
youngest and living branches of that Perry family are now to 
be found in Connecticut, Maryland, District of Columbia, 
Ohio, Illinois, Dakota and Old Mexico. 

If I could be with the gentlemen of your committee, and 
others likely to assemble with you on your h'ield-Day, the 
occasion would, perhaps, be of even greater interest to me 
than to you. When visiting the Tower of London one of the 
wardens told me that he could generally distinguish Ameri- 
cans from Englishmen, by reason of the lively interest shown 
by Americans in historic events and places with which En- 
glishmen were more familiar. 

Very sincerely, yours, 

Aarox F. Perrv. 
Dorchester, April 24th, 1883. 

Mv De.ar Mr. Perry: — I thank you most heartily for 
your kind letter and the invitation to be present at the com- 
ing anniversary of the Natick Historical Society, when I 
should meet many old and loving friends with whom I have 
labored in the past. 

I feel a deep interest in your society and in all similar 
institutions which have for their object the preservation of 
the history of our beloved New England and the worthy 
men who have gone before us ; and I know of no more grate- 
ful duty than to preserve a record of their lives and their 
descendants to the latest generation. There is no more 
noble employment than that of preserving the deeds, princi- 
ples and virtues of a noble ancestry. In this cause your so- 
ciety are engaged. God bless you in your efforts. 

As ever, yours, 

M.\Rsn.\M. ['. W^ii.nEK. 

P. S. With regret that my strength and health arw insuf- 
ficient for the journey to South Natick. 



80 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Sont/i Natick. 

Newton Centre, April 27th, 1883. 
My Dear Sir, — I thank you for your kind invitation to 
join in your Field-Day, and it would give me great pleasure ; 
but it will be impossible. I wish I had more time for such his- 
torical occasions, and none would be more beneficial or en- 
joyable than those at South Natick. 

Yours, very truly, 

Robert R. Bishop. 
Elijah Perry, Esq. 

106 Marlboro' Street, Boston, May i, 1883. 
Dear Mr. Sheafe : — I am very sorry that an engagement 
for this afternoon obliges me to decline your very kind and 
attractive invitation, for which I heartily thank yourself and 
committee. You have a most delightful day for the occa- 
sion. My very kind regards to Mrs. Sheafe. 

Always sincerely, yours, 

RuFus Ellis. 

AN ANCIENT DOCUMENT. 



BY EDWIN C. MORSE. 

The ancient records of events and personages in our town 
are always interesting, as showing the habits, customs, and 
characteristics of the early settlers, most of whom have left 
more or less descendants now living in our borders. A cen- 
tury and a half ago may have been "a day of small things " 
in the eyes of the present dwellers in this old Indian town 
of Natick ; but the stalwart oak has no right to look down 
with contempt upon the diminutive acorn from which it 
sprung and but for which the noble tree, lifting its wide- 
spreading branches, could never have been. 

In the olden times there were few men of education suffi- 
cient to enable them to make a connected and permanent 
record of events transpiring in their day, and a still smaller 
number who were disposed to take the time and the pains 
to do so. 



Third Fiild-Day. 81 

Amonp; this small number the clergymen surely stood at 
the head. They were men liberally educated and accustomed 
to the use of the pen, and the parish and town records, the 
journals and printed works they have left in a permanent 
form constitute the chief sources of information concerning 
the local events and the men of those days. They were the 
authors of most of the important public documents, both ec- 
clesiastical and civil, that required sound learning and good 
judgment. To these faithful chroniclers we of this genera- 
tion are greatly indebted, as were the fathers who looked to 
them for advice and guidance, and \yho never looked in vain. 
Perhaps if we of the present day were more generally dis- 
posed to heed the counsels of our ministers it would be 
better for us all. 

Among the records of the First Church in Necdham, is 
found the following entry in the handwriting of Rev. Jona- 
than Townsend, the first minister of that town : 

"April 14th, 1728. This day I preached at Natick. 
Joseph Ephraim, Sr., Joseph Ephraim, Jr., Isaac Commachoo, 
Sarah Commachoo, Deborah Abraham, Leah Thomas, and 
Judith Ephraim (who made a public confession of her sin in 
breaking the seventh commandment), took hold on God's 
Covenant, and were baptized ; also, Ebenezer, John, Simon, 
sons, Sarah and Deborah, daughters, of Joseph Ephraim, 
Jr., baptized ; Daniel, son of Leah Thomas, and John, son of 
Judith Ephraim, Eodetn Die. The following English child- 
ren were baptized, viz. : Esther, daughter of Thomas Frost ; 
Samuel, son of Samuel Frost ; Joseph, son of Samuel Morse ; 
Beulah, daughter of John Goodenow ; Ezekiel, son of John 
Sawin ; and Moses, son, and Mary, daughter, of Moses 
Smith." 

Most of the above — the Indians excepted — have de- 
scendants now living in this town ; but as these white fami- 
lies resided in other portions of the town, special feference 
to them will be postponed until the localities occupied by 
them may be visited in future years. 



82 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. ' 

Of the Indians mentioned, most if not all of the males 
were freeholders as were their fathers before them ; and 
some of the old deeds given by them to the white settlers 
are still in existence. 

Joseph Ephraim, Senior, was in after years appointed a 
deacon in the church here, and officiated as such in Rev. 
■Mr. Badger's day. He was a worthy and exemplary man, 
and his wife was noted for being a neat and tidy house- 
keeper. His home was on Pleasant street near where the 
canal crosses it, and a small stone monument erected by 
Elijah Perry, Esq., marks the spot where his house stood. 

At the time of the baptism referred to, the Rev. Oliver 
Peabody was preaching at Natick, but had not been ordained 
to the ministry and could not administer the rites of the 
church. It is therefore probable that an exchange had been 
arranged with Mr. Townsend, an authorized minister. 

The first preacher here was of course Rev. John Eliot. 
He was succeeded by one of his Indian converts, Daniel 
Takawampbait, whom Eliot ordained Nov. 9th, 1689. Mr. 
Peabody first preached in Natick, August 6th, 1721, and 
died in 1752. He was followed by Rev. Stephen Badger, 
who was ordained March 27th, 1753, and died Aug. 28, 1803, 
making from the time of Eliot's commencement to the close 
Mr. Badger's services about 150 years of almost continuous 
preaching by four men, and two of these dying compara- 
tively young. At the present day few ministers finish their 
labors where they commence them, unless they are fortunate 
enough to die young. We have on our south-westerly bor- 
ders, however, a notable instance to the contrary, where the 
beloved and honored pastor bids fair, in the words of Rip 
Van Winkle's celebrated toast, to "live long and prosper" 
in the ministry of his early love, honored equally in his own 
and in other denominations. 

I have indicated the fact that among those baptized by 
Rev. Mr. Townsend there were several Indians who have 
left no descendants. The descendants of the Red Men, who 



Third Field-Day. S8 

two hundred years ago roamed over these hills, who built 
their wigwams upon the banks of your beautiful Charles and 
paddled the light canoe upon its limpid waters, who gath- 
ered under the shade of oaken temples, the beauty of whose 
architecture outrivalled the grandest cathedrals of the old 
world — who listened with reverent mien to the teachings of 
the great "Apostle," and who brought their children to the 
baptismal font — have melted like the snows of Winter 
when the Spring-time comes and have disappeared forever. 
This is a sad commentary upon the civilization which the 
white men brought to them. Their memory, a few frag- 
ments of their history and their graves are all that is left of 
them. All that we in this day can do for them is to some- 
times recall their efforts to better their condition, and to 
drop upon their graves the bitter tear of regret for a fate so 
sad. 



Mr. I'erry called attention to the recent donations to the 
Society's museum, which were displayed in front of the pul- 
l)it, and then read the following paper upon the 

RARE SPECIMENS OF SILK EMBROIDERY. 

In the old graveyard at South Xatick are three head- 
stones, which read thus : 

Sarah Eliot, daughter of Dea. John Eliot, of Boston, died 
September 6th, 1787. Aged 62 years. 

Silence Eliot, daughter of Dea. John ICliot, of Boston, died 
August 2d, 1790. Aged 60 years. 

Joseph Eliot, son of Dea. John Eliot, of Boston, died Sep- 
tember 25th, 1782. Aged 54 years. 

It has long been a question why these persons were i)uricd 
here, and who was this Dea. John Eliot of Boston. It has 
been ascertained that he was a grandson of Jacob I<21iot 
of Boston, and that Jacob Eliot was a brother of John Eliot, 
the apostle to the Indians. Dea. John i-:iiot married for his 
third wife Mrs. Hannah, widow of Rev. Oliver I'eabodv, Oc- 



84 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Soictli N^atick. 

tober 7th, 1766, and died 1783. His widow, Hannah, died in 
1796, aged 92. The two danghters of Dea. John EHot were 
mutes, and probably came with their step-mother after the 
death of their father, to the old Peabody home and busied 
themselves in doing fine needlework, some of which has this 
day been presented to this Society by Mrs. E. D. Hartwell 
of North Grafton. The busy hands that wrought this very 
fine needlework have been at rest some ninety years, but 
this beautiful work remains as evidence of their skill. 



The company then left the church, and. proceeding toward 
Wellesley, made the first halt at the Rev. Thomas B. Gan- 
nett place. Here the following paper upon the history of the 
"David Morse Place" (now Asa Caswell's home) and the 
" Pelatiah Morse Place " (Rev. T. B. Gannett estate) was 
given : 

DAVID MORSE PLACE AND PELATIAH MORSE PLACE. 



BY HORACE MANN. 



On the fourth day of May, 17 19, the Indian proprietors of 
Natick assembled at the meeting house and voted a division 
of a portion of their common lands. Three lots, 150 acres in 
extent, north and east of the meeting house, fell to Samuel 
Umpatowin, Benjamin Tray and Thomas Sooduck. 

We are standing near the junction of these lots. A por- 
tion of them were relinquished in favor of Rev. Oliver Pea- 
body and William Rider, Jr., of Sherborn, who had been 
chosen proprietor's clerk. Rider was also clerk for the Sher- 
born proprietors. He did not improve the holdings here, but 
in 1729 exchanged them with David Morse, of Sherborn, for 
lands at the west part of that town. 

David Morse, who succeeded Rider in the ownership, was 
a native of Sherborn, and was born Dec. 31st, 1694. He 
was the ninth child of Capt. Joseph Morse by his second 



These are considered the oldest but two houses in Natick. 



Third Ficlcl-Day. 85 

wife (Hannah Babcock), and was a f^rcat-<;rancl-.son of 
Samuel Morse, one of the original planters of Dedhani, in 
1636. David Morse, upon attaining his majority, was 
chosen to the ofifices of Hog Reeve, Highway Surveyor and 
one of the committee to divide the commons at Sherborn. 
In 17JO his name appeared on a muster rc^ll of troojxM's com- 
manded by Eleazer Rider, and in 1725 he served a term of 
six weeks in Clark's company (of Framingham) in the Rut- 
land Scouts. He married, in 17 19, Sarah Dyer, of Wey- 
mouth, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah Dyer of that 
town ; and there issifed from the union ten children — three 
born in Sherborn, the others in Natick. 

In 1732 David Morse and his wife Sarah were baptized by 
Rev. Oliver Peabody and admitted to church membership at 
Natick and this is probably the date of their arrival here. 1 
am told that Morse built the house now owned by Asa Cas- 
well ; but it has been repaired and remodeled many times 
and retains but little of the original material. In 1732, 
Morse was chosen town clerk of Natick and was on a com- 
mittee to divide lands. With Rev. Oliver Peabody he was in- 
terested in milling upon Charles river, and purchased lands 
between Glen street and the river, of Samuel Abrahams, 
Jeremiah Comacho and Joseph I'^phraim, for the conven- 
ience of the mills. When a military company was formed he 
was chosen its cajjtain, an office he retained until 1756. This 
company was attached to a regiment commanded by Col. 
John Jones, of Hopkinton, and afterwards by Col. Joseph 
Buckminster of Framingham. Captain Morse acquired large 
holdings of land at the Indian Farm, Saw-Mill pond. Pine and 
Cedar swamps, Washamog pond and Lake Cochituate. The 
Indian birth, marriage and death records were kept by him ; 
he was an indifferent penman and a worse speller. In a long 
controversy concerning the location of the meeting house, 
Capt. Morse was the leader of the Southern army against the 
assaults of the "Needham-Enders," and on a call of the "yeas" 
and "noes," as the records have it, was sure of his following. 



86 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socj of South A^atick. 

Surrounded by a population of English, Indians and Ne- 
groes, engaged in a struggle for the possession of the soil, 
Captain Morse exhibited abilities equal to the emergencies 
of his position. He died in 1773, having for nearly forty 
years held the position and prestige of a leader in the rough 
work of peopling" and settling a new town, and leaving" behind 
him an honorable and enviable reputation. 

Of his children I will speak briefly : 

Hannah, born at Sherborn, February, 1719-20, married 
John Jones, of Dedham, the great-grandfather of Elijah 
Perry of Natick. 

Pelatiah, born in Sherborn, 1722, received a good educa- 
tion, married Esther Allen of Dedham, and in 1748 built 
this house, which for many years was known as Pelatiah's 
tavern. He was also a school teacher, town clerk and town 
treasurer, and an excellent penman. When the weather was 
cold or the debates or disputants dry, the town meetings ad- 
journed to " Pelatiah's " tavern, where they warmed them- 
selves at his fireplace, quenched their thirst, mellowed the 
asperities of their discussions with a mug of flip and then 
voted that the swine might go at large another year and the 
meeting house be located at Indian Thomas's and noivJicrc 
else. In May, 1775, the provincial congress of Massachu- 
setts sent to Natick, where he belonged, a negro named 
Thomas Nichols, in custody of Captain Caleb Kingsbury of 
Needham. Nichols was accused of aiding the British and 
was confined at this house. Nichols was well guarded, and 
guard and prisoner well entertained, says Morse, in his 
petition for payment, which the congress and town had for- 
gotten in the press of public matters, and we may rest as- 
sured that " Pelatiah " was a cheerful dispenser of the good 
things of this life. At the decease of Hezekiah Broad, in 
1755, Morse purchased the grain, saw and fulling mills on 
Charles River, and they passed to his son William and 
thence to Samuel Mann, Abel Perry and Dea. William Bige- 
low. Morse was twice married. By his first marriage there 



TJiird Ficld-Day. ST 

were four children, I^sther, David, Mary and William ; by his 
second wife (Lydia Glazier, of Lancaster), none. Parson 
Badger's anathemas against taverners were too strong for 
Pelatiah, and he withdrew from the Natick church to the 
Old South of Boston. Later in life his views changed, and 
he became a Baptist. Pelatiah died in iSio, aged 88 years. 

Sarah Morse, born at Natick, 1734, married John Robert- 
son, a soldier of the French war ot 1755 and a Continental 
soldier from Natick in 1788. They lived at the Indian Farm 
on lands inherited from Capt. David Morse. 

Joseph Morse was born at Natick, 1739; received a good 
education ; was chosen to many town offices ; was a captain 
in the militia and on the committee of correspondence in 
1775 ; was chosen selectman and resigned to take a cap- 
taincy in the Massachusetts line ; arose to the rank of major 
and served with the Northern army in 1779, where he con- 
tracted a disease which terminated fatally on his return 
home. Major Morse lived at the Indian Farm, on lands ac- 
quired from Indian grantors by his father. Captain David. 
He was twice married and left five children. Some of his 
descendants are now living in Wellesley, and in the north 
part of Natick. 

The other children of Captain David died in infancy, or 
before reaching their majority. 

David Morse, Jr., the son of Pelatiah, entered Harvard 
College, but did not complete the course. He was a captain 
in the militia and a "forty days man" at Rhode Island, in 
1780. He was a school teacher and farmer, and for many 
years town clerk and treasurer, and a superior penman. He 
was twice married, having three children by his first wife, 
Jemima Wood, and none by his second, Deborah Draper. 

Capt. David died in 1830, aged 74 years. Rebecca, his 
daughter, married Daniel Hartshorn, of West Boylston ; his 
daughter Esther married Capt. George Whitney, of Natick ; 
Charles, his only son, also called Captain Charles, married 
Lucy Winch, f)f I'^-amingham. 



88 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

The male descendants of Captain David, Jr., are not num- 
erous. Hamilton Morse, of South Natick, is the only rep- 
resentative of the name in the second generation. The de- 
scendants of his daughter Esther are numerous at the cen- 
ter of the town. 

The motto of the Morse race is " In. Deo Nan Annis Fido,'' 
"In God, not in arms, we trust. " This branch has amply sus- 
tained their patents of nobility and have also borne arms in 
the cause of liberty, right and justice. 

There is a tradition that one acre of this estate was once 
the property of the Apostle Eliot, the gift of an Indian to 
him, but I have been unable to find any record to verify it. 

In 1794, the old house and a portion of the David Morse 
estate had passed to the Welles family, and Hon. John Welles 
sold it to Capt. John Atkins of Truro. Atkins became a 
leader in society at Natick, and held important town offices. 
In the adjustment of " Lady Lothrop's " estate and the liti- 
gation that attended it, he was a conspicuous party ; he is 
also one of the stars of Mrs. Stowe's "Old Town Folks." 
For a number of years he was one of the guardians of the 
Natick Indians, and during his administration of their affairs 
the last of their lands, the possessions of Hannah Thomas, 
passed to white ownership. In 1847 John Atkins sold the 
Morse estate to Hon. John Welles, and the so-called Eliot 
acre was deeded to Atkins by Hon. Chester Adams. 

The Pelatiah Morse estate was, after a time, sold to Rev. 
Thomas B. Gannett, whose heirs now hold it. 

The sons of Captain Atkins entered business houses in 
Boston and accjuired wealth and distinction in their separate 
careers. John Atkins, Jr., remained in Natick, and has 
lately, at an advanced age, passed beyond the veil. The 
family is now represented here by Mrs. Joseph Dow, who 
resides in a dwelling across the way. 

The English owners and occupants of the three Indian 
lots have uniformly been honorable and useful citizens. Pos- 
sibly Umpatowin, Tray and Sooduck were equally as honor- 



Tliird Fichi-Dav. 89 

able and useful for their condition and time ; yet it is better 
that the white men took their places and wrung from the 
soil the conditions which won for them their wealth, their 
honor and their fame. 



R I'. CHENEY PLACr:. 



RV REV. J. P. SHEAFE, [R. 

This beautiful spot is situated on a broad upland plain 
just in the bend of the river, and nearly surrounded by it. 
This plain was high, dry, and healthful, commonly called 
" Natick Plain," very desirable for habitation ; and early 
settlers were soon attracted to the spot. 

The deeds and conveyances of 150 years ago describe this 
tract of land on and about the plain as having been originally 
granted to Thomas Metcalf, Jonathan and John Fairbanks, 
and Henry Chickering of Dedham, and John Allen. The 
date of these original grants I have not been able to ascer- 
tain, but hope that continued search may discover the time. 
The earliest date of intlividual ownership is some time 
previous to 1732. 

It appears from deeds on record at Boston, that more than 
a century and a half ago the major part of this estate was 
owned by Thomas Fuller and Thomas I'uller, Jr., who were 
weavers of Dedham. 

"On the i8th of April, 1732, the fourth year of the reign 
of George H.," so reads the deed, "Thomas Fuller, a weaver 
of Dedham, sold to Hezekiah Fuller, husbandman, for ^131 
lawful money, a tract of land containing 40 acres and 32 
poles, be it more or less, part meadow and part upland, 
situated in Dedham, near Natick, upon a plain commonly 
called Natick Plain." This land was granted originally to 
Jonathan and John I^'airbanks, and was bounded as follows : 
On the north, b)' land granted to Thomas Metcalf ; south, 
by land granted to John Allen : rhiirlcs Ri\i'r bounds it 



90 Historical y Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

on the east and part of the west ; and what is called the 
" Westland " bounds it in part on the west. Thomas Fuller 
declares himself as having full and clear title to this land, 
and he, with his wife Esther, relinquish all right, title and 
interest in the same to the purchaser, Hezekiah Fuller. 

On the very same day, viz., April i8, 1732, this Hezekiah 
Fuller, husbandman, bought of Thomas Fuller, Jr., who was 
a weaver of Needham, a parcel of land, part upland and part 
meadow, containing 20 1-2 acres and 10 poles, for the sum 
of ^69 good and lawful money. 

This land without doubt joined the tract just described, 
being located in Dedham, near Natick, and on what was 
called Natick Plain. This land was originally granted to 
Henry Chickering of Dedham, and was bounded on the 
north by land granted Thomas Metcalf, and by Charles 
River on the other parts. 

Mehitable, the wife of Thomas Fuller, Jr., also appeared 
and signed to the purchaser her third part of interest in 
the above land. "This," says the deed, "was in the fourth 
year of the reign of George H., King of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland." 

This estate, with some additional, was owned and held 
by Hezekiah Fuller of Dedham, county of Suffolk, until May 
20, 1740, when he sold it to one John Jones, Jr., husband- 
man, of Weston, county of Middlesex, for the sum of ^591. 

The farm as conveyed to John Jones, Jr., is thus described 
in the deed : " A tract of land lying on a neck of Charles 
River, in the northerly part of Needham, near Natick, and 
containing 72 acres, 24 rods, be it more or less, as described 
in the records of said township of Needham." 

The difficulty of identifying the ancient bounderies will 
be apparent to all when I read, according to the deed given 
to John Jones, Jr., that the farm was butted and bounded 
as follows : " By the Charles River at the west end, and 
running easterly from a scratched walnut-tree, and in a 
straight line to a stake on the plain, thence to a small 



Third Ficld-Day. 91 

black oak by the south side of a small pond-hole, from 
thence in a straight line to a birch tree standing on the edge 
of the river, bounded south mostly by Edmund Dewing's 
land, and by Charles River round to first mark." 

More than 140 years have sped away since then, taking 
birch tree and stake, perhaps walnut and oak, so that the 
bounderies remain known only as tlie memory of the occu- 
pant transmits them to his successor. 

Mr. Jones purchases also i 1-2 acres, 6 rods, adjoining his 
original purchase, and bounded on the south by the Needham 
school-land. Hezekiah Fuller declares himself to be the 
true, sole and lawful owner of this estate, and the papers 
are signed, sealed and delivered to John Jones, Jr., in the 
presence of David Morse, John Janes and Hezekiah h^dler, 
Jr. 

We have now in the Jones family what may be called 
permanent residents. The estate remained in the Jones 
family sixty-four years ; and during this long period, in the 
hands of father and son, tlie place was greatly improved, and 
much increased by subsequent purchases. As an illustra- 
tion of this improvement, we point with satisfaction to these 
stately elms, which from their size and age must have been 
planted by the Jones family, and still stand in the maturity 
of their strength and beauty to tell of the thrift and enter- 
prise of those long since passed away. This family was not 
of that sort who selfishly spend all their efforts for their 
private ends : they were public spirited and interested in the 
general welfare of the town. 

John Jones, Jr., was for many years Justice of the Peace, 
lie was also one of. the deacons in Rev. Stephen Badger's 
church (Parson Lothrop of Old Town Folks) ; and in this 
office he served with Joseph Ephraim, an Indian who was 
baptized with others, April 14th, 1728, by Rev. Jonathan 
Townsend, first minister of Needham.' Not only in town 
affairs do we remember the activities of this f imily, but the 



ISl'O jiaper eiUitleil " An Am-ieiit Docuiik'hI," wliicli was icad in \\w cliurcli. 



92 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South N'atick. 

service rendered to our country entitles them to a place 
in grateful memory. 

When the American Revolution called for men to defend 
the sacred liberties of the people, this family was among the 
first to respond ; and the eldest son, bearing his father's 
name, took command of a company, as the ancient records 
affirm, "in ye service of ye United American States, ye 19th 
of April, 1775." 

While serving with his company at Crown Point, he was 
stricken down with small pox, and on the 4th of July, 1776, 
the very day that the United Colonies signed that immortal 
document, the Declaration of Independence, Capt. John 
Jones breathed his last. He left a widow and four children 
at Princeton ; and his youngest grandson, now a man of 
80 years, resides in Illinois, and is greatly interested in our 
proceedings to-day. 

We come now to the next occupant of this place. On 
May 3d, 1804, Adam Jones, the son of the former purchaser, 
John Jones, Jr., together with his wife Rebecca, sold to 
Israel Loring, a sea captain from Hingham, two parcels of 
land in Natick and Dover, containing about 20 acres, border- 
ing on land of Pelatiah Morse, Hezekiah Broad, Dexter and 
David Dana, and on the county road, for the sum of $865. 
Also, the same date, the homestead, consisting now of 102 
acres, in the district of Dover and town of Needham. 

The homestead, with buildings, was sold for -13,000. The 
same deed included also i 1-2 acres meadow, bounded by the 
Charles River and Needham school land, and 7 1-2 acres bor- 
dering on a ridge hill, Charles River and a brook flowing into 
the same. 

Some little anecdotes which have come down to us show 
Capt. Loring to have been a singular genius. He never in- 
tended to owe anybody anything ; and, as the thought oc- 
curred to him one day, he said : "No, I don't owe anybody in 
this world one cent ; no, not one cent. But there's Lawton 
(this was the well known Sam Lawton) — I owe him for 



Tliiiul Ficlii-Day. 93 

shoeing my horse ; but, come to think, I paid him t'other 
(lay. And there's Winch — I owe him for a pair of shoes ; 
but I haven't spoken for them yet." 

At one time the Captain was greatly distressed that so 
large a quantity of dressing had accumulated on the farm ; so 
much, he said, that he did not know what to do with it. A 
happy idea came to his mind : " How lucky that the river 
is so near ! I can tip a few loads in there." 

The Captain used to attend church in West Needham, and 
one Sunday, as he stood leaning upon the side of the pew 
during prayer time, his wig fell off into the aisle, greatly to 
the merrtment of the younger portion of the congregation. 

Capt. Israel Loring retained possession of this place until 
1832, when he deeded it to one Martin Broad — 102 acres. 
In 1835 Martin Broad purchased 25 acres from John Welles 
and 50 acres from James Durant. During the next thirty- 
five years, the estate was subject to a multitude of minor 
changes. A large number of names appear as purchasers of 
small tracts and holders of sections of the estate ; but in 
1870, the homestead, increased to 147 acres, was purchased 
by Hon. Theodore Otis, one of the early mayors of Roxbury. 
The place was somewhat improved, and large greenhouses 
built. Mr. Otis lived here but a short time, never becoming 
very closely identified with the interests of the village, and 
his ownership marks no decided change. 

In 1874, the estate, 147 acres, was sold to the present 
owner, B. P. Cheney, a name widely known and spoken only 
with respect. This transfer marks tlie era of very decided 
changes. The old house, erected probably a century before 
by John Jones, Esq., gave place to a new and commodious 
residence, with every modern facility of convenience and 
comfort. The old greenhouses have shared the same fate 
as the old house, and the transformation is complete. 

With the place in full view before you. I need not waste 
your precious moments in description. " Beautiful for 
situation " we may truly say, for here artistic refinement and 



94 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South iVatick. 

a most liberal expenditure of means has beautified and 
adorned those charms which Nature has bestowed with such 
liberal and bountiful hand. 

There is one thing more which should be said in reference 
to this place. One might suppose from the records that this 
estate for a century and a half had been a wanderer on the 
face of the earth. The first record we have of it describes 
it as situated in Dedham, in the county of Suffolk. 

Next we find it in Needham, and are referred to the 
records of the township of Needham for a description of 
the estate and bounds of the same. Still later, we find that 
the place is in the county of Suffolk, but in the district of 
Dover, and finally as we see it before us to-day, it is situated 
in Norfolk county and in the town of Dover. 

The explanation is this : In the early times Dedham was 
an exceedingly large township, and including a part of what 
is now South Natick. While the Apostle Eliot was at work 
with the Indians, an exchange was effected by which a part 
of Dedham was transferred to Natick, and in exchange 
Dedham took a portion of Indian lands in Deerfield. Later 
on, viz. : in 171 1, the township of Needham was set off from 
Dedham and incorporated as a separate town. The B. P. 
Cheney place, which we have described, was included in the 
portion which was set off in the township of Needham, all 
still remaining in Suffolk county. 

In 1784, the fourth district or Springfield parish was set 
off as the district of Dover, and the estate in question was 
then included in the Dover district of Suffolk county. In 
1793 we find the registration of Norfolk county commenced 
in Dedham. The estate may then be found in Norfolk 
county in the district of Dover. 

Finally, in 1836, the district of Dover was incorporated 
as a town, and for the present, the owner may have the 
satisfaction of knowing that the estate has been allowed 
to rest in peace for nearly half a century in the county of 
Norfolk and in the town of Dover. 



Third Fie Id- Day. 95 

THE DANA HOMESTEAD. 



BY REV. SAMUEL D. IIOSMKK. 

April 14, 1 76 1, David Morse, who lived on the farm ad- 
joining on the west, deeded this farm of 48 acres, with the 
buildings, to his son, William Morse. This son William 
died, and his widow, Lucretia Morse, sold to Charles Haynes 
Se})t. 2d, 1770, who in turn sold to I'^phraim Dana, April 27, 
1779. This Dana homestead is of unusual historic interest, 
and it was nominally in the possession of the Dana family 
from the above date until the death of Mrs. Tabitha Leach 
in 1869. 

Ephraim Dana was born Sept. 26, 1744. He was the son 
of Nathaniel Dana, who was the son of Samuel, who was 
three generations from Richard Dana, of Cambridge, in 1644. 
Ephraim Dana was a blacksmith, and had his shop at the 
corner of Leach's Lane. He was a man of character and in- 
fluence, and patriotic also, answering to the call of the Lex- 
ington alarm April 19th, 1775. 

His first wife was Rebecca Leland, daugliter of Caleb 
Leland of Sherborn. She was born June 10, 175 1. They 
had three sons, David, Dexter ^nd liphraim, of whom the 
last named died in infancy. Mrs. Dana died in 1777. 

April 20th, 1780, Mr. Dana married Tabitha, daughter of 
John Jones, Esq. By this marriage he had five children, 
Rebecca, Ephraim and Tabitha, who were twins, Nathaniel 
and Luther. Four of the brothers spent most of their lives 
in Portland, Me., in mercantile pursuits ; but Ephraim, also a 
merchant, resided in Boston. As a family, they bore an ex- 
cellent character. 

Ephraim Dana, Sr., died Nov. 19, 1792, and in April, 1801, 
his widow was married to Jacob Homer, a retireil merchant 
of Boston, who came to this homestead to reside, and died 
here Oct. 15th, 18 15. 



96 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South A^atick. 

Rebecca and Tabitha, daughters of Ephraim Dana, Sr., 
built the eastern extension of the house for a store, where 
they followed the dry and fancy goods business many years. 
They also kept house, and in their family was their aged 
grandmother Dana, and two orphan cousins. 

In time, the grand-mother passed on to her rest, and the 
orphan boys to the care of the Dana brothers, while the 
sisters retired from the mercantile life, and entered upon 
married life. 

Rebecca married Rev. Jesse Fisher, who preached at Scot- 
land, Conn., from his ordination, May 20th, 1811, until his 
death in 1836. 

Tabitha married Joseph Leach of Lancaster, Mass., where 
she resided several years, but finally returned to the home- 
stead to take care of her then aged and feeble mother, who 
died in 1827. Mrs. Tabitha Leach's kindred ties were many 
and varied. In her neighborhood she is remembered as a 
devout, helpful and kindly woman, corresponding in character 
to her scriptural namesake. None knew her but to honor 
her. 

The store, given up by the Dana sisters, was taken by 
their cousins, the Misses Holbrook, with their mother, who 
was the sister of Ephraim Dana, Sen. : and these ladies car- 
ried on the business for a term of years. 

The house has associations of loved relatives and congeni- 
al friends, where the good and true have lived to brighten, 
cheer and help. 

In later years, we all knew the scholarly teacher, author 
and preacher. Rev. Gorham D. Abbot, L.L.D. ; also the 
quiet, cultivated and refined Mrs. Abbot, who was a step- 
daughter of Mrs. Tabitha Leach, and who faithfully per- 
formed her filial duties to her honored step-mother. Dr. 
Abbot died here Aug. 30th, 1874. Mrs. Abbot died at Fair- 
haven, Conn., in the Spring of 1876. 

The present speaker succeeded Dr. Abbot in the ministry 
in this place, and lived in this house several years. As he 



Third Ficld-Day. 97 

bears the name of Samuel Dana, and is connected by an an- 
cestral link with the line which occupied this homestead so 
many years, he cherishes a family pride in the good char- 
acter they bore in Natick. Perhaps, also, that was a reason 
for assigning to him the duty of preparing the address about 
this ancient dwellins;. 



THE KIMBALL PLACE. 



BY HERBERT L. MORSE. 

The land upon which this house is situated was a part of 
the grant to an Indian by the name of Obsco, according to 
plan of Indian grants. 

On the 13th of April, 1733, Samuel Abraham, Sr., an 
Indian, sold to John Winn, a housewright, 12 acres for ;^48 ; 
and on Dec. 24th of the same year Winn secured 10 acres 
more from Thomas Pegan for ^42. Pegan had secured 
these ten acres from Benjamin Tray, another Indian proprie- 
tor, the same day, in exchange for ten acres elsewhere. 
These ten acres were on the south-east side of the county 
road. 

Oliver Hastings, a tailor of Weston, bought, Jan. ist, 1765, 
this place, which now consisted of 50 acres, " more or less," 
with buildings thereon, for ;^ioo. 

About six years afterward (May 6, 1771), it was purchased 
by Ichabod Smith, of Natick, a farmer by occupation, for 
;^i82, 13s. 4d. Six years later (Aug. 29, 1777), it again 
changed hands, and was sold for ^{^650, more than three 
times its cost, to John Osborne, a painter, of Boston. 

Richard Kimball, of Sherborn, bought this place in 1780 
(Aug. i) for ;^244, 13s., 4d. ; and it remained in possession 
of this family until April 30, 1807. 

This Richard Kimball, from whom the place gets its 
name, was a native of Hopkinton and a descendant, in the 
fourth generation, of Richard of Ipswich, wlm came over 
from England in 1634, in the ship Elizabeth 



98 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Soiitli Natick. 

Thirteen years before this he held property in Natick to 
the vahie of <£59, i6s., whicli he purchased of Samuel 
Welles. He died in 1805. His descendants still live in 
this and neighboring towns. 

A story is told of his wife which illustrates one of the cus- 
toms of that day. One day Mrs. , a neighbor who lived 

about a mile away, was doing up her morning's work when a 
hurried rap was heard at the door. Before it could be 
reached by her, it was opened by a little daughter of Mrs. 
Kimball. She was all out of breath but managed to say, 
"Mother's dy(e)ing and wants you to come right over," and 

then she was off for home. Mrs. , startled by such news, 

grabbed a shawl and started for the house of her dying neigh- 
bor. Having arrived there, she pulls the latch-string and 
enters, wondering if her friend is still alive. Imagine then 
her surprise, when she sees before her Mrs. K. bending over 
a tub containing a dark liquid and some yarn, for she was in- 
deed dyeing yarn ; and in a neighborly way she had sent over 
for her neighbor to come and have some of hers dyed at the 
same time. 

David Smith, Jr., bought the place in 1807, for '^2400. 
During the year or two preceding, the house had been accu- 
pied by Capt. Samuel Sanger, of Sherborn, who was followed 
by Edward Kimball. A month later it was purchased by 
Mary, wife of Dr. Isaac Morrill, who kept it until 181 1, when 
it was sold to John Trench, who was associated with one 
Otis Everett. 

John Welles purchased it May 15, 1814, and from him it 
descended to its present owner, H. H. Hunnewell. 

It has had many occupants during the sixty-nine years it 
has been held by these two persons. The present occupant 
is Horace Obear. 



Third Ficld-Dav. 99 



THE WELLES MANSION. 



BY AMOS P. CHENEY. 



Durini,^ the year 1737, Jonathan Richardson bought lands 
in this portion of the town from the Natick Proprietors' 
Committee, and later he bought from Indians and white peo- 
ple up to 1750, at which time he held large possessions both 
upon Ward's lane, or Pond road, and in other parts of the 
town. 

Mr. Richardson was an inn-holder, and appears to have 
been highly esteemed by the Indians, as he was selected by 
them to succeed Hon. Francis Fullam, when that gentleman 
resigned the charge of Indian affairs. 

Mr. Richardson probably built the first house on this spot ; 
and the ell of the present mansion is, doubtless, a portion 
of the original structure. 

On the 3d of November, 1763, Jonathan Richardson, gen- 
tleman, and his wife, with Jonathan Richardson, Jr., black- 
smith, and his wife, joined in the sale to Samuel Welles, Jr., 
of Boston, of about sixty-si.x acres of kind in five or six sepa- 
rate parcels, including this lot with the buildings thereon ; 
and, as stated in the deed, " also a pew in the meeting house 
whereof the Rev. Stephen Badger is now pastor." The 
price paid was three hundred and thirty-three jiounds, six 
shillings and eight pence. 

Samuel Welles, Jr., was the great great-grandson of Gov. 
Thomas Welles, of Connecticut, and on his mother's side 
was a descendant of Jacob, brother of the Apostle Eliot. 

This was not the first purchase made by Mr. Welles in 
Natick. He had owned lands here some ten years before, 
and he continued to make such investments, so that in 1770, 
he owned more land in the town than any other person. 

hVom the first, he took a strong interest in town affairs. 
He was moderator of the town meeting in 1758, served upon 
important town committees, was a member of the board of 



100 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

selectmen in 1770 and 1773, and was manager of the town's 

financial affairs during the Revolutionary war. His fitness 

for these positions is seen when we note the fact that during 

all this time he was one of the leading and most successful 

merchants of Boston. 

The school system of Natick, in those days, as well as Mr. 

Welles' careful metliods of conducting the town business, 

are shown in the following : 

"Natick Septm. 5 1773. 
The Deestrict of Natick Dr. to Betty Carver for keppen scolle & 
Boarden 10 weeks at four shillms & ten pence per weke £2, 8s, Od. 
Errors excepted t»y me Betty Carver." 

Mr. Welles, as selectman, approved, the bill ; but, as the 
lady was married during the school term, he warns the treas- 
urer "not to pay the bill unless her husband also signs it." 

Although Mr. Welles' largest interests were in Boston, 
he so identified himself with the people and affairs of Natick 
as to take part in its contributions to the armies of the 
colonies. Among his servants, for in those days slavery 
existed in Massachusetts, was a man named Caesar Thomp- 
son, and when, in 1776, the quota for Natick was called for, 
Mr. Welles sent this man, as one of the quota, to serve in 
the expedition to Canada. This black soldier is named in 
the town records at a later date, as follows : 

"Boston, Feb. 18, 1783. 
This may certify, to all whom it may concern, that I this day, fully 
and freely give to Cfesar Thompson his freedom. 

Witness my hand, Samuel Welles. 

A true copy. Attest, Abijah Strattoist, 

Town Clerk." 

Mr. Welles not only bought real estate here, but sought 
to make such investments profitable by building up the town. 
He induced people who were skillful in the mechanical trades 
to come here to settle. He sold small farms to them on easy 
terms, and advanced money to enable them to make improve- 
ments ; thus, while secnring the presence of skilled artizans 
for the convenience of both himself and the community, 
he enabled these workmen to acquire homes for themselves, 
and at the same time enhanced the value of his remaining 
lands. 



riiini Fie Id-Day. 101 

Mr. Welles died in 1799, ^'""^^ when his estate was divided 
among his heirs, in 1804, this portion was assigned to his 
son Arnold in his share. 

About the year 1825, or perhaps as late as 1830, the house 
was cut in two, and one part moved away to a lot nearer 
South Natick, and finished into a modest dwelling, while the 
other portion remained and formed the ell of the new man- 
sion then erected as we now see it. 

At the division of the estate of Arnold Welles, in 1846, 
his brother, Mr. Benjamin Welles, came into possession. 
This gentleman was a banker in l-5oston, but occupied this 
place during the summer months of each year until 1857, 
when he sold it to James Gray, the well-known real estate 
agent, who resides in Wellesley. 

Late in the following year Mr. Gray disposed of the 
property to Mr. John O. Bradford, who, removing to Norfolk, 
Va., in i860, was succeeded by Jacob Wendell, Jr., a member 
of the firm of J. C. Howe & Co., wholesale dry goods mer- 
chants of Boston. 

A few years later Messrs. J. C. Howe & Co., established 
a branch house in New York city, and Mr. Wendell being 
selected to take charge of that enterprise, had no further 
use for this old home. 

The ne.xt purchaser was Mrs. Sarah D. Lane, wife of Mr. 
Jonathan A. Lane, a Boston merchant. 

This family held it about si.x years, but in June, 1872, it 
was bought by our valued neighbor H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., 
who is the owner at the present time. 



102 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 
DR. ISAAC MORRILL PLACE. 



BY SAMUEL B. NOYES, OF CANTON. 



Fifty years ago last November, being then a boy of seven- 
teen summers, I went to bed one night in Dedham village, 
full of anticipation of the pleasure which I was to experience 
on the morrow when I was to come to this place with my 
mother and sister and a younger brother. I was to be wak- 
ened early, as I was to feed and harness the team which I 
was to drive. But I needed no arousing. I hardly slept any, 
and shortly after midnight began to wish for the dawning of 
the day, and the time to arrive for me to get ready my horse. 
So I looked, from time to time, impatient through the win- 
dow of my chamber and suddenly was startled by a remarka- 
ble exhibition in the heavens. There were others who wit- 
nessed the same phenomena. In your bright and newsy 
sheet, the Natick Citizen, to which I am a subscriber, and 
which I and my .wife and sisters and daughters and sons and 
grandsons, eagerly seek and read weekly, I find an interest- 
ing allusion to the wonderful star shooting exhibition of that 
morning, by my maternal cousin, Alexander Wheel ock 
Thayer. 

"On the morning of the 13th of November," says he, 
" about three o'clock, I was awakened by a candle flashing 
in my eyes, which, as they opened, beheld Travis' pale face, 
while the ears heard words to this effect : 

" ' Wheelock, get up, the Judgment day has come ; the 
stars are all falling.' These may not be the exact words, 
but fifty years have passed since I heard them. Three 
weeks before, I had completed my sixteenth year. Half 
a dozen years previously, one of my school books had been 
a little, thin volume on Astronomy, prepared by Wilkins, 
later of the firm of Wilkins & Carter. Towards its end was 
a short extract from Humboldt and Bonpland's travels in 
South America, describing a wonderful meteoric shower, 



Third I'iild-Dav. 103 

observed by them (exactly thirty-four years before) at 
Cumana. The words ' the stars are falling ' had hardly been 
spoken when it flashed into my mind this might be what 
Humboldt saw. I uttered a loud exclamation of delight, 
which somewhat reassured Travis, as my relation of the 
Humboldt story did the others, and I sprang to the head 

of the outside stairs above mentioned. What I saw has 

« 

been described a hundred times, but no description gives 
any adequate conception of the beauty and grandeur of the 
spectacle." 

Thayer was afterward with me at Phillips Academy, An- 
dover, and at Harvard, and was then remarkable for his 
power of keen observation. Him we met at South Natick 
that day, and his mother and sister Susan, alas ! not now 
living on the earth ; and his mother's sisters, the late Mrs. 
Adams and Miss Bigelow and Mrs. Stowe, mother of the 
now living and learned Professor Calvin E. Stowe, whose 
wife, Harriet Beecher Stowe, has woven the incidents of the 
every day life of the people and families of the Old Town 
into a novel whose characters will always be famous, and 
whose descriptions and narratives of New England life, as it 
was a century ago, have rarely been equalled and never been 
surpassed. 

What a day was that! and what a drive from Dedham vil- 
lage to Dover, by Dr. Sanger's, crossing the bridge from east 
to west, and alighting at the old Bigelow house, which stood 
on the lot now enclosed in the Eliot Square. After dinner 
at Natick, we drove to this house. Here then was living Dr. 
Isaac Morrill. He was born in Wilmington, in 1748, and was 
the eldest son of Rev. Isaac Morrill, and three years the sen- 
ior brother of Eliakim Morrill, my maternal grandfather, of 
whom I had the honor to speak on an occasion similar to 
this, one year ago to-day. 

Dr. Isaac Morrill came from Wilmington to Natick (Old 
Town) in the year 1771, being then a young man of twenty- 
three years ; and here, Oct. 2, 1774, he wedded Mary, eldest 



104 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

child and daughter of Nathaniel Mann of Needham, whose 
wife was Mary, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Townsend, the 
first minister of the town of Needham, and who moved into 
Natick between 1761 and 1763, had a farm at the north part 
of the town, which he bought of Abel Perry and one Metcalf, 
and had three children born in Needham — Mary, Ebenezer, 
Samuel. 

Nathaniel Mann was a descendant of Rev. Samuel Mann 
of Wrentham (H. U. 1665), a classmate of Benjamin Eliot 
and Caleb Cheeshahteaumuk, the only Indian graduate of 
Harvard College. Among his descendants was the late 
Horace Mann (B. U.), who died Aug. 2, 1853. 

It is pretty well established that an Indian named Obsco 
was once the owner of the greater part of Dr. Morrill's land, 
who bought it of his wife's father, and built a home in 1775 
a few feet in front of this spot, the frame of which was 
moved back in 1852 and built over into the present style. 

Fifty years ago I sat at the table of my granduncle in this 
old house, of which he was still the owner, and in which he 
had then lived fifty-seven years with Mary, his wife, who had 
■ died Dec. 23, 1831, aged 82. Thayer and I (then at Phillips 
Academy, Andover) visited the venerable doctor again in 
the Summer of 1838. He then talked of the life he had 
lived, of his experience as a physician, of the multitude of 
children who had been born in the town within his intimate 
knowledge, and of other matters which he thought might in- 
terest young men. 

Turning to my diary which I kept in the year 1838, I find 
the following : 

" Wednesday, Aug. 22. — Went to Needham and Natick. 
Spent the forenoon in Needham, with Dr. Morrill and Mrs. 
Walker and Phoebe Morrill. Visited the church — very 
pretty.'! And then follow these words : "Dr. Isaac Morrill 
is 90 years of age, and retains his faculties to a wonderful 
degree. He practiced physic till he was 80 years of age, but 
he is now childish, yet manly. It is the way to die, to go 



riiird Ficld-Day. 105 

cUnvn to the j;"ravc as a shock of corn rijK' for the sickle. 
Went to Natick in the afternoon, etc." I never saw him 
again alive. He (.lied the followini;" Sjiring, May 5th, 1839, 
aged 91 years. 

In this house were born his daughter Mary, who married 

Walker and died Mar. 8th, 1870, aged 87 ; Phoebe, who 

died Mar. 3d, aged 85, and his son Samuel, who died in 
Brookfield, date unknown. His widow died in Brookfield, 
Feb. 5th, 1882, aged 92. These and two of Mrs. Walker's 
and two of Samuel's sons, all who died in middle life, 
were buried in the Morrill tomb in the old graveyard by the 
church in soil hallowed by the tread of the Apostle John 
Eliot, and John, his son, and that beloved contemporary and 
historian, Daniel Gookin, — father of Rev. Daniel Gookin, 
(H. U. 1669) of Sherborn — who was the first English 
magistrate chosen to be ruler over the praying Indians 
in 1656 and governing the Indians subject to us, especially 
those of Natick, Ponkapoag etc., in the time of the " High 
and mighty Prince Charles II. by the grace of God, King 
of England, Scotland, PVance and Ireland, Defender of the 
P'aith, etc." 

This whole territory is historical. " Sacred to the memory 
of " seems written on every wall and aged tree, and field and 
hill and grove and rock and river, from Nonantum to Sher- 
born, and it is well to pause here by the spot where once 
dwelt that good physician who, for more than half a century 
immediately succeeding the commencement of its civiliza- 
tion, ministered to the aflflicted. 

Dr. Isaac Morrill sold this place to Nahum Cutter, April 
1st, 1836: recorded in Middlesex Deeds (should have been 
Norfolk), book 350, page 457. From Cutter it passed to 
John Welles, April 20th, 1836: recorded in Norfolk Deeds, 
lib. 137, page 177. PVom John Welles to Mrs. Isabella P 
Hunnewell, April ist, 1846: recorded with Norfolk Deeds, 
lib. 159, page 317. From her it passed into H. H. Hun- 
newell's hands. H. H. Hunnewell's house does not stand 
on Dr. Morrill's land. 



106 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

Walter Hunnewell built -his present house in 1875, on the 
Dr. Morrill land. In 1852, the old house was moved back 
its width or a little more, newly covered, enlarged and 
finished up as it now stands. It now belongs to Mrs. Sar- 
gent, Mr. Hunnewell's youngest daughter. The land was 
originally very poor. It bordered on what was in olden 
time called Saw-Mill Pond, later on Bullard's Pond, now 
Lake Waban ; and he used to say of his estate that he had feed, 
and water enough for one hundred head of cattle. The Doc- 
tor, as I remember him, was a pleasant old gentleman, a 
welcome visitor in a sick room, but strenuous against cold 
water as a drink in fevers. He always rode horseback with 
saddle-bags of medicine under him. When he stopped to 
visit a patient the saddle-bags were carried on his arm. He 
always had a little riding stick in his hand, such as he might 
pick up or break from some tree or bush. It happened one 
day that he broke off a willow, and when he got home he 
stuck it into the bank by his house to have it handy to take 
again ; but it was left there, took root and grew till it got to 
be more than two feet through, and was cut down in 1852 
to make room for moving the house back. 

West of the doctor's house, opposite his land, stands a 
mile-stone. The distance from Boston is now about 14 
miles. It very likely may have been here when the doctor 
first came. This part of Needham, to Saw-Mill Brook, was 
Natick up to 1797. 



"WELLESLEY" — THE COUNTRY-SEAT OF 
H. H. HUNNEWELL, ESQ. 

, [The paper from which the following was prepared was written by 
Dr. G. J. Townsend, of South Natick, president of the South Natick 
Historical, Natural History and Library Society.] 

One hundred and fifty years ago, the lands now included 

in this estate were held by Indian proprietors, Coochuck, 

Nehemiah, Pittomee and Waban owning that portion be- 



Third Ficlil-Dav. 107 

tvvcen the Shorborn roatl and the river, while Bowman, 
Chalcom, Comecho and Obsco held that between the high- 
way and the lake. 

These Indians seem to have had little desire to possess a 
home, and, in many cases, no sooner did they reocive the ti- 
tle to a share of the " common lands," at the stated divi- 
sions, than they were ready to trade it away, even if they re- 
ceived only a " right " to a like allotment in the next divis- 
ion, although they preferred to be paid some certain amount 
of money, which was quite often squandered very soon. 

It is difficult and often impossible to trace the ownership 
of those lands, as many deeds were never recorded, and the 
only clue to some such transactions is the incidental mention 
of certain owners in other deeds. 

One of these Indian deeds was enclosed in the sealed 
copper box which was placed under the corner-stone of Mr. 
Hunnewell's mansion ; but as that deed was not recorded, 
and no copy of it was made, we do not know even the name 
of the Indian who sold nor that of the purchaser. 

In the case of those lands next the river, it is more than 
probable that these Indian proprietors sold their lands to 
Jonathan Richardson, a blacksmith, who was the builder 
of the original Welles mansion, near by, and at a later date 
was appointed guardian of the Indians. 

It is also probable that Mr. Richardson sold directly to 
Samuel Welles, Jr., of Boston, whose son Arnold inherited 
it in 1804, and from him it descended to Messrs. Henry W. 
and John T. W. Sargent in 1846. A few years later these 
gentlemen sold out to Mr. Hunnewell. 

That portion of " Wellesley " lying between the highway 
and the lake, was doubtless purchased from the Indian propri- 
etors, by Isaac Bullard or by some of his heirs, members 
of the family by whom was founded and made famous the 
old Bullard tavern, formerly standing near the present stone 
lodge at the entrance to the Wellesley College grounds. 



108 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

In 1816 (May 23), Nathaniel Bullard sold to Aaron Smith 
two parcels of land, in all seventeen acres, lying between 
Sherborn road and the lake, then called Bullard 's pond, and 
by this purchase Mr. Smith became owner of all the lands 
bordering on the lake, from near Saw-Mill Brook up to Dr. 
Isaac Morrill's homestead. 

May 5th, 1843, Emily K. Smith and Eunice Smith, heirs 
of Aaron Smith, sold to Hon. John Welles twenty-one acres 
and seventeen rods, which included the above purchase 
of 1 8 16. This lot of land passed from Mr. Welles to his 
daughter, Mrs. Hunnewell, and was transferred by her to 
her husband. 

About 1 85 1, another portion of the Smith estate was 
bought by Mr. Hunnewell, and within the past year he has 
succeeded in acquiring the remainder : so that now the 
domain, including the Dr. Morrill place, extends from Pond 
road to the estate of the late Henry F. Durant, Esq. 

The mansion of " Wellesley " was erected during the year 
1852, and the name was given to the estate at or near that 
time. Mrs. Shaw's house was built in 1870, that of Arthur 
Hunnewell in 1872, and in 1875 the home of Walter 
Hunnewell. 

There may be many estates in our land which include 
larger areas, with more of the picturesque, the beautiful and 
the grand, in its natural features ; but one will have to go 
very far to find one where the liberal expenditure of money 
has been under the^ direction of more exquisite taste, or with 
more consummate skill. 

As one rambles about over the lawn, through the 
various gardens, in the wood, through the shrubbery and 
over the rocks, he has glimpses of English parks, the gardens 
of Versailles, the walks of Schonbrunn, the parterres and 
terraces of Italy ; in short, all lands have contributed of 
their natural productions and of their best ideas, to render 
this not only a beautiful home, but a very charming spot 
to visit, for both recreation and education. 



Third Fi eld-Day. 109 

Of the methods adopted and means employed to eonvert 
a rather barren pitch pine plain into a fine lawn, and the 
seemingly unpromising declivities, covered with brambly 
thickets, into charming gardens, the following account, from 
Sargent's edition of Downing's " Landscape Gardening," 
gives the clearest and best idea. The reader must bear 
in mind that this account was written in 185S, and that 
it gives an imperfect idea of the extent and beauty of the 
grounds of to-day : 

"The whole estate at ' Wellesley ' consists, we believe, of 
two hundred acres, being an unimproved portion of an old 
family place of many hundred acres. 

"The part selected by Mr. Hunnewell for the ornamental 
improvement of his grounds comprises about forty acres, or- 
iginally a flat, sandy, arid plain, which, when he took it in 
hand, in 185 1, only seven years since, was more or less cov- 
ered with a tangled growth of dwarf pitch pine, scrub oak 
and birch, all of which were cut down and the ground 
ploughed up. 

"The first thing done was to trench over and thoroughly 
prepare with composted muck an acre or more for a nursery, 
which was planted with large quantities of Norway spruce, 
white pines, balsams, Austrian pines, Scotch firs, larch, 
beech, oaks, elms, maples, etc., mostly imported from Eng- 
land, not over twelve to fifteen inches high, with some few 
native trees of greater age, previously prepared. The lawn 
was then graded, subsoiled, and a large portion trenched by 
spade ; and after being very heavily manured and enriched 
with compost, was for several years cultivated in order to 
ameliorate and subdue the soil. The boundaries of the 
place, especially on the exposed part towanl the public road, 
were then trenched over twenty to fifty feet broad, heavily 
composted and planted with a judicious mixture of ever,- 
greens and ornamental trees. The border, however, for 
many years, until the trees were fifteen to twenty feet high, 
and in many cases touched each other, was annually enriched 



110 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Soc'y of South Natick. 

and planted in potatoes, the crop being some remuneration 
for the expense. 

" The next step after deciding upon the situation of the 
house, was to form the avenues and plant them ; the one 
from the Boston entrance, with alternating Pinus excelsa, 
and Magnolia tripetala at one end, and with large masses of 
rhododendrons, Kalmia latifolia, Mahonias, and other rare 
evergreen shrubs, as a frontage to a back-ground of Norway 
spruces at the other ; until the road reaches the Italian gar- 
den, with a view of the lake on one side, and the house and 
lawn on the other, when the avenue effect of the planting 
ceases — the groups, masses, and single specimens, and the 
ornamental arrangement commences. 

"The other avenue, from the Natick entrance, is planted 
with rows of white pine and larch, now perhaps, twenty to 
twenty-five feet high, and being all fine trees, the effect is 
already very marked. 

" The next step was to plant the lawn, of about eight acres, 
with the best specimens selected from the nurseries or bor- 
der plantations. This has been most cleverly and success- 
fully done, much of it in the winter with frozen balls and 
with the most ornamental and choice trees ; in some cases 
large specimens twenty to thirty feet high were brought 
twenty miles ; but even after the clumps, masses and single 
specimens on the lawn were arranged and planted, it was 
still annually enriched and cultivated, and the ground 
around each tree and mass of trees is, even to this day, kept 
clean to a circle following the drip of the branches. 

" The house was then built, having among other fine fea- 
tures, a hall of 54x18 feet running through it ; on one side, 
the fine extent of simple and dignified lawn, and on the other 
side is a French parterre or architectural garden with foun- 
tains, bordered by heavy balustrades, surmounted at inter- 
vals by vases, with steps leading through a series of terraces 
to the lake, a fine sheet of water of about a mile in extent, 
having a peculiarly varied and beautiful outline. From this 



Third Fie Id- Day. Ill 

French parterre, stretches off on the right the ornamental or 
English pleasure grounds, a part of the same view, showing 
the summer-house very artistically rusticated, with colored 
glass windows, producing very curious effects of contrast by 
the stained glass. 

" From this we pass along the lake to the Italian garden, 
which is the most successful, if not the only one, as yet in 
this country. The effect, especially by moonlight, of the 
lake seen through the balustrades of the parapet, and among 
the vases and statues which surmount it — with the splash- 
ing of the fountain, and the very unique features, at least in 
this country, of the formally clipped trees and other topiary 
work, quite lead us to suppose we are on the lake of Como. 

"To Mr. Hunnewell, we believe, is due the merit of having 
first attempted to clip our white pine, and the result shows 
that it bears the shears quite as well as the hemlock or yew ; 
though in the garden are equally successful specimens of 
clipped Norways, balsams, arbor vit?e, the English maple, 
the beech and Scotch firs. 

" From the Italian garden we cross the avenue into a 
wood, through which winds a walk planted on either side 
with a very extensive and satisfactory pinetum, containing 
all the rarest and newest conifers and evergreen shrubs, and 
which with the slight protection from the winter's sun, 
seem to thrive exceedingly well. 

" Among other features of this place, and accomplished 
like everything else, within seven years, are various vistas 
through different avenues planted for this purpose — some 
of purple beech, others of white pine — all of which will in 
a few years become very interesting and effective. 

" If to the above we add the extensive and well conducted 
vegetable and fruit gardens surrounded by most admirably 
kept hedges, an abundance of well trained fruit trees, peach, 
grape, and green-houses, and a steam engine for forcing 
water into a reservoir, from which distributing pipes conduct 
it over all the gardens, we shall, we think, conclude a 



112 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South N^atick. 

description of a place almost unequalled in this country, con- 
sidering the few years only it has existed. 

" Mr. Hun-newell's success has been attributable in the 
first place, to working on a plan — making no or few mis- 
takes — having little or nothing to undo, and lastly, having 
the taste and ability to do everything thoroughly and well, 
always keeping up what has been done, so that neither tree 
or flower, or lawn, is ever permitted to flag." 

It was an expression of the public consciousness of obliga- 
tion to Mr. Hunnewell that the name of the post-office, and 
of the railroad station at West Needham was changed to 
Wellesley, and later, that this name was adopted for the 
new town. 



NEWPORT GREEN. 

BY HORACE MANN. 



During the last half of the i8th century there were fifty 
families of African descent recorded in Natick. A few of 
these people held a fee in the soil ; the rest were clinging 
to the remnant of the Indian clan, or ekeing out existence 
in a state of half servitude to the whites ; while some, like 
the Diggos, Thompson, Ferrits, Jonah, Vitto, Pero and Cudjo, 
performed meritorious service in the French and Revolution- 
ary Wars. The native Africans and the military heroes 
formed the aristocracy of this colored democracy ; the mulat- 
toes, freeborn, and the transients were the commoners. And 
the transients were numerous : for Natick was a city of refuge 
for the waifs and estrays of other boroughs. 

Newport Green, who once dwelt on this spot, came to 
Natick in 1778. He hailed from Medfield, and was called 
a nailor. Mr. Tilden, the historian of Medfield, has afforded 
the following concerning him while living there. He was 
believed to have been a native African, and was once a slave 
owned by Uriah Morse of Medway, who sold him April 6th, 



Third Fie Id- Day. 113 

1763, to Moses Hartshorn of Medfiekl, for the sum of sixty 
pounds. The bill of sale hangs on the walls of the Medfiekl 
public library, and describes Green as " My negro boy, New- 
port." The price paid indicates that he had then acquired 
a trade, for farm and house servants did not command so 
large a price at that period. Hartshorn proved to be a 
tyrannical master, and his treatment of Newport aroused the 
sympathy of some benevolent persons, who purchased and 
gave him his freedom, giving bonds to the town of Medfield 
that he should not become a public charge. He took the 
name of Green by living with another negro named Varrick 
Green, and both were "nailors " by occupation. 

The presence of a large negro population and need of 
employment, were two considerations that caused him to 
visit Natick. There was another attraction, however, rnore 
potent than either of them. On the west side of Ward's 
lane, or the Pond road, dwelt the Kings and Fudees, rich in the 
possession of a land lease and the prestige of having been 
slaves to wealthy families. They were native Africans, 
and the elite of Natick's colored society. 

The Fudees had a daughter, and tradition affirms that she 
was fair and comely to behold; and Newport became a devo- 
tee at the shrine of this dusky belle of the Pond road, and 
was rewarded for his pains with the heart, hand and fortune 
of the charming Phillis Fudee. 

Their intentions were filed July ist, 1784, and Parson 
Badger tied the knot Nov. nth of the same year ; and, with 
his blessing, Newport and Phillis were launched upon the sea 
of matrimonial and domestic felicity. 

Newport took his bride to Medfiekl, where he had ac- 
quired a small fee in the soil. They returned to Natick 
again in 1793, bringing with them William, born in 1785, 
and leaving in the churchyard, where the messenger of death 
had carried them, Benjamin, born in 1788, and Parmelia, 
born in 1789. 



114 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

The Natick authorities greeted them with a "warning out 
and to depart, and tarry no longer here ;" but they remained. 

In 1794, Phillis presented her husband with another 
daughter, Parmelia by name ; and Newport provided for this 
dispensation by laboring at his calling as a nailor, and the 
public necessity commanded his skill in making 1,500 nails 
for the West schoolhouse, then building, rewarding him with 
£,\ I2S. 6d. 

Then, for a year or two, he dispensed the public charity 
to a half dozen Indians and negroes, called the State pau- 
pers, living meanwhile in the poor hut of blind Obsco, one 
of the last of Natick's Indian proprietors. Cato Fair, 
another negro, shared the honors of the town's almoner with 
Newport ; and a few years later, Cato and Jenny Fair and 
Diilah Fudee and her children were the town's guests at 
Newport's residence. Those were the palmy days of New- 
port Green's life, and he was the soul of the yearly festivity 
accorded by our grandfathers to the negro population, when 
they might feast, sing and dance on the village green, or in 
their habitations, to their full satisfaction. If a noise was 
heard among the negroes at other times, Uncle Eliakim 
Morrill, and the rest of the valiants, took down the old 
" Queen's Arms " and marched to quell the expected insur- 
rection. 

Soon the clouds of adversity began to overshadow New- 
port's brief prosperity. The fortune Phillis brought him and 
his own slight additions to it had been expended in keeping 
the wolf of hunger from their door and in polishing and 
preserving their family jewels, those little black diamonds 
who were the sparkling pledges of their mutual loves. The 
revolutions of time and ideas developed the cut nail, and 
Newport's calling became a relic of the past. He struggled 
awhile against the tide of innovation, and about the year 
181 1 returned to Medfield, where, at a locality called 
"Guinea," he shuffled off his mortal coil June 13th, 18 16, 
his wife, Phillis, having died a few years before. 



Third Ficl,i-Day. 116 

This nei^ro possessed the love of the marvellous, the gar- 
rulous, inventive faculty and sanguine temperament peculiar 
to his race ; and when adversity had overwhelmed him, his 
hope and ambition remained. Me thought there was a 
better and brighter day in store for him here, and that he 
should greet the glory of its sunrise and revel in its noon- 
tide rays ; but the dreams his fancy painted were as evanes- 
cent as the morning dew. 

There are some anecdotes concerning him extant ; one, 
which has been published, I borrow to illuminate the dark- 
ness of this tale. One day, while at his labors, and adversity 
was approaching him, he dropped his hammer and exclaimed, 
" Oh ! if I had only forty dollars, how I would make old 
Natick shine ! " It was a sum he never succeeded in 
getting ; but he had found the talisman which helps to 
smooth the rough spots on nature's surface, make sunshine 
in the forest, and the wayside pleasant with flowers. 



AARON SMITH AND THE INDIAN MILL. 



BY HORACE MANN. 



This estate was laid out in 1730, by the Indian Proprietors 
of Natick, to Mrs. Sarah Orgills, of Needham, in the rights 
of her husband, Richard Orgills, deceased. It was bounded 
east and south upon the Saw-Mill brook and pond, south- 
westerly on heirs of James Coochuck, Indian, and all other 
parts by the Saw-Mill pond and brook. The tract was called a 
freeholder's right, and carried the privilege of taking one 
hundred acres in the common and undivided lands of Natick. 
Mrs. Orgills was the daughter of one Thomas Knapp, of 
Watertown, who died beyond the seas prior to 1703, and a 
grand-daughter of Capt. John Grout, a noted settler of Sud- 
bury. Her husband, Richard Orgills, was a settler of Med- 
ford and a tailor by trade ; and they had a homestead lot in 
the Needham Hundreds Division, near the dwelling-place of 



116 Historical y Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of Soutli iVatick. 

the late William Gray, at the north-east corner of the college 
grounds. 

Their Natick estate passed to the heirs of Nathaniel Bul- 
lard, as did also a portion of the Coochuck lot, and thence to 
the heirs of Jonathan Smith ; and, in 1761, was conveyed to 
Aaron Smith by his brother David, with two acres purchased 
of Jonas Obsco, Indian, and Joseph Ephraim, Indian, who 
consented to the transfer. Other conveyances were made by 
Ephraim Bullard, who purchased Indian lands now comprised 
in the Hunnewell estate. 

The Smith family, who have been owners until the present 
time, are descendants of Christopher and Martha (Metcalf) 
Smith, of Dedham, in 1644; and the Wellesley College 
grounds may be termed the hive of the Needham and Natick 
branches of the Smith family. Christopher and Martha 
Smith were the parents of nine children. A son, John, born 
Nov. 19, 1655, married Abigail Day, Dec. 21, 1677. From 
this marriage issued nine children. Their son, Jonathan, 
born Feb. 11, 1686, married — Jan. 7, 1713 — Martha Smith, 
of Needham. "There is luck in odd numbers," says the old 
song ; and this couple were blessed with four daughters and 
five sons — Ralph, Timothy, David, Jonathan and Aaron. 
Timothy, born July 3d, 1725, married Esther Dewing, of 
Needham, and settled on the Indian Stone Fort Farm, at 
Natick, near East Central street, about three-fourths of a 
mile from the centre, and was conspicuous in civil and 
military affairs. He was on Capt. Morse's muster roll in 
1755, and a lieutenant on Capt. James Morse's muster roll 
(Col. Samuel Bullard's regiment) at the Bunker Hill alarm ; 
served six months in New York in 1776, and forty days in 
Rhode Island in 1780. His sons, Henry and Timothy, 
were also in the Revolutionary service. 

Lieut. Timothy married, 1780, a second wife — Abigail 
Sawin Bacon, widow of Lieut. John Bacon of Needham, who 
was slain by the King's troops at West Cambridge, April 
19. 1775- 



Third Fie Id- Day. 117 

Lieut. Timothy died at Natick in 1S03, and there are none 
of his descendants of the Smith name living;. 

Aaron Smith, the grantee of this estate, was born in 1730; 
and he had a homestead farm on the opposite side of the 
Saw-Mill Brook, purchased of Jeremiah Dewing- in 1665 and 
lately owned by Fuller Smith, deceased. He acquired large 
holdings of land in Needham and Natick and was prominent 
in public affairs. He was a captain of the West company 
of Needham minute men at the battle of Lexington, attached 
to Heath's regiment ; and his brothers David and Jonathan 
and his son Aaron were also in that engagement. The 
Smiths were numerous at the Lexington alarm, the names 
of fourteen from Needham and six from Natick appearing 
on the minute rolls. Throughout the war the family were 
present with their persons and their substance to aid the 
cause of liberty. 

Capt. Aaron died in 1796, aged 66 years, and Aaron, Jr., 
became the owner of this estate. This house was built prior 
to 1778, as it appears, on Barachis Mason's plan of the town 
made in that year. Aaron, Jr., married Lydia Pratt in 1784, 
and their children recorded at Natick arc Lydia (1785), 
Martha (1790), Priscilla (1791), Susanna (1794), Lydia 
(1796). 

Aaron Smith had, for a second wife, Susanna Duval. He 
died in 1833, aged '^i years. His daughter Lydia, the wi- 
dow of Reuben Ware of Newton Lower P'alls, is still living, 
aged 87 years. The Natick and Needham Smiths have uni- 
formly been found on the side of liberty and freedom of con- 
science, and the names of Capt. Aaron and his sons, 
and Ichabod, John, Jeremiah, Jonathan and Abiel appear in 
the records as petitioners for religious privileges, which 
were not always accorded them by our orthodox ancestors. 
The descendants of Christopher and Martha Smith, wher- 
ever their lot has fallL-n, have left their im])ress upon the 
surroundings ; and this branch, as Christians, soldiers and 
yeomen, have prayed, fought and wrought successfully in 
the battle and turmoil of life. 



118 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 
THE INDIAN MILL. 



BY HORACE MANN. 



"Conveniency for mills" is a line that often occurs in the 
early records of our New England towns, and our forefathers 
were always going to meeting or to mill. Following in their 
footsteps and treading in the beaten path where their foot- 
steps trod, we, this afternoon, have been coming to the mill. 

The Natick Indian saw-mill possesses peculiar interest, 
for when it was built there was not a saw-mill in all England. 
The Dutch built one near Albany in 1633, and the English 
at Dorchester and Watertown prior to 1636. These were 
the earliest mills in America. A Dutchman attempted 
to build one near London in 1663, but the English sawyers 
destroyed it, and their opposition prevented their general 
adoption until near the close of that century. 

It is a historic mill, and for the reason that it serves to 
show that Rev. John Eliot and his assistants were able to 
influence the red man to attempt an innovation that the 
conservatism of the English sawyers rejected. Again, this 
mill ante-dates, in time of its erection, any attempt of the 
Dedham planters at a similar construction north of Charles 
River. Abraham Shaw built a mill below the Great Plain 
in 1664, and Daniel and Joshua Fisher built one near Charles 
River Village after King Phillips' war. The timber and 
boards for the Indian meeting house were sawed in pits 
by two Indians — Anthony and Job; and by the 4th day 
of July, 1 65 1, they sawed enough to complete the meeting 
house. Anthony had his skull fractured and his jaw-bone 
broken by the fall of a piece of timber while sawing. 

Anthony had not recovered in October, 1651 : and when 
Gov. Endicott visited the plantation, in October, 165 1, the 
subject of building a mill the following year was discussed. 
After dining, the company went out to view a site for it. It 
is quite likely that they came to this locality, for the Eng- 



Third Field- Day. 11 1» 

lish themselves had not then attempted to buihl dams across 
the larger streams. There were many delays, and the mill 
was not built until 1658, then it was nearly completed ; and 
it being found that it stood on Dedham land, the Dedham 
planters voted to extend the grant to the Natick Indians to 
include the mill, with liberty to use the adjacent land for 
carting timber, and liberty to cut pine and cedar timber, and 
also white oak timber, to' complete the mill, providing it was 
cut on common land. 

Rev. Samuel Haven, in his centennial sermon, stated that 
the mill was never completed ; but it is evident that he sup- 
posed the record to refer to a mill nearer the Indian meet- 
ing house and on Charles river. The mill was tangible 
enough, however, to fasten the name of Saw-Mill brook upon 
the stream, and Saw-Mill pond upon the sheet of water 
above it. 

In 1659, the Dedham planters laid out a division of corn 
land called the Natick Divident, and ten grants were made 
at Natick Saw-Mill brook — to Peter Woodward, John 
Aldis, Rev. John Allen, Thomas Metcalf, Theophilus I-^rary, 
Michael Metcalf, Andrew Dewing, James Draper, Richard 
Wheeler and the church in Dedham. The lands of Wood- 
ward and John Allen are the Needham school land, and the 
estate of B. P. Cheney on the south of the river, and the 
other grants are south-east of the brook. In the settling of 
the plantation boundaries in 1663, the Saw-Mill brook was 
made the boundary line of Dedham at this point and this 
line was adhered to in the after adjustment of 1700, and for 
a century and a half the Saw-Mill brook and pond are refer- 
red to in the conveyances of land in this direction. I am 
told the mill stood where the remains of an old dam can be 
seen a few rods down the stream. 

In the spring of 1671, one Mattoonas, a Nipmuck Indian, 
killed one of the Smith family, Zachary by name, in Dedham 
woods, for which murder he was hung on Boston Common 
and his head set on a pole. The remains of young Smith 



120 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

were found near the saw-mill. Suspicions were cast upon 
the Praying Indians for this murder, but under the direction 
of Major Gookin, the Natick Indians sought out the 
murderer and he was brought to justice. An account of 
this murder can be found in Hubbard's History, and the 
diaries of that time, and Drake in the Indian Chronicle 
relates it in detail. Mr. Eliot referred to it in a letter to 
Boyle, dated the i6th of the 4th month, 1671. These 
references and the fact that the Smith family were settlers 
north of the river, lead to the conclusion that the Indian 
saw-mill was the locality where the murder was committed. 

The Indian mill was destroyed during King Phillip's War ; 
and after that eventful period the Natick Indians were too 
demoralized to attempt its rebuilding. It is not known that 
the English used this stream for milling purposes. The Bul- 
lards, who occupied lands adjacent, were interested in mills 
at Weston prior to their removal here ; but we are unable to 
find evidence of their having used this stream for milling 
purposes. 

In Eliot's time this place was a pine and cedar swamp, and 
probably the place where the material for the Indian meet- 
ing-house was procured, and the scene of some of the Apos- 
tle's manual toil, and along this way he came on his visits 
to them to perform the duties of his pastorate. 

It is not ccKtainly known that Eliot ever owned an acre 
of the soil of Natick. The Frary, Smith and Aldis families, 
who were among the grantees at Saw-Mill Brook, were con- 
nected by marriage ties with the daughters of Eliot's 
brothers, and from Wellesley church to the site of the 
meeting house, a large portion of the land has once been 
owned by their descendants, the Peabody and Welles families, 
and a large territory between Lake Waban and the river 
is now in the possession of their descendants. 

Thus although the forms of Eliot and his brothers have 
disappeared from the earth, yet the spirits and the blood 
of the race are still potent in the plantation. The old Indian 



Third Ficld-Day. 121 

mill was probably a crude affair ami wn)U};ht slowly. The 
planters moved in a corresponding decree, yet they wrouj^ht 
with the surety that has at last polished in a measure the 
rough surroundings of Eliot's day. 

The Saw-Mill pond has become a lake in name, and a new 
missionary has come and gone and left upon its banks the 
institutions that are to create new forces for the polishing 
processes of progressing time. Where Waban and his 
brethren had their wigwams, the villas of the white man 
may be seen, and the red man's cornfields are transformed in- 
to the gardens and lawns of civilization. Night approaches 
and we will leave the Saw-Mill brook to future gleaners in 
historic fields. 

The Apostle and his kindred, his converts, the grantors 
and grantees, Indian and English alike, have long since 
passed to their everlasting sleep. There are no more logs 
in the cedar swamp, the mill and the dam are gone, and the 
power of the stream goes down toward the sea, and the 
thoughts and words of our Field-Day excursion have begun 
their journey of fading out in the mist of the coming future. 



122 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 



A LIST OF THE 

OFFICES OF THE ORIGINAL SOCIETY, 

From Feb. 22. 1870, to June 2, 1873, 

And the names of those who have filled them, with the 
dates of such service. 



President : 
Rev. Horatio Alger. Whole term. 

Vice-President : 
Rev. Gorham D. Abbot, L.L.D. Whole time. 

Recording- Secretary : 
Joseph Dowe. 1870 to 1871. 

Elijah Perry, Esq. 1871 to 1873. 

Rev. Gorham D. Abbot, L.L.D. Jan. 7 to June 2, 1873. 

Corresponding Secretary : 
Rev. Stephen C. Strong. 1870 to Oct. 4, 1871. 

Geo. J. Townsend, M.D. Oct. 4, '71, to June 2, '73. 

Treasurer : 
William Edwards, Esq. 1870 to 1873. 

Jackson Bigelow, Esq. Jan. 7 to June 2, 1873. 

Librarian : 
Joseph Dowe. 1871 to June 2, 1873. 

Historical Curator : 
Rev. Horatio Alger. 1870 to 1871. 

Joseph Dowe. 1871 to 1873. 

Rev. Horatio Alger. Jan. 7 to June 2, 1873. 

Natural History Curator : 
William Edwards, Esq. 1870 to June 2, 1873. 



Offices and Officers. 123 

Board of Directors : 
President, ^ 

Vice-President, 

Recording Secretary, / ex officiis. 

Corresponding Secretary, 
Treasurer, ) 

With five additional members, elected annually. 

Geo. J. Townsend, M. D. 1 870-1 871. 

Geo. C. Lincoln, M. D. 1 870-1-2. 

Elijah Perry, Esq. 1870. 

Charles B. Dana. 1 870-1. 

Amory L. Babcock. 1 870-1-2-3 to June 2, '73- 

Joseph Dowe. 1871. 

Jackson Bigelow. 187 1-2. 

Perley M. Ladd. 1872. 

Theodore C. Otis. 1872. 

Wm. Edwards, Esq. 1873, till June 2, 1873. 

Amos P. Cheney. 1873, " 

Joshua Parmenter. 1873, " " " 

Elliot Perry. 1873, " 



124 Historical, Nat. Hist, and Lib. Soc'y of South Natick. 



THE OFFICES AND THE OFFICERS OF THE 
INCORPORATED 

HISTORICAL, NATURAL HISTORY AND LIBRARY SOC'Y 

OF SOUTH NATICK. 



President : 
Rev. Horatio Alger. April 14, 'jt,, to Nov. 6, '81. 

Geo. J. Townsend, M. D. 1882-3-4. 

Vice-President : 
Henry S. Edwards. April 14, 1873, to 1874. 

Geo. J. Townsend, M. D. 1874 to 1882. 

Gustavus Smith, Esq. 1882-3-4. 

Recording Secretary : 
Elijah Perry, Esq. April 14, 1873, to 1875. 

Thomas E. Barry, Esq. 1875 to 1876. 

Leander V. N. Peck. 1876 to 1884. . 

Herbert L. Morse. 1874. 

Corresponding Secretary : 
Geo. J. Townsend, M. D. April 14, 1873 to 1874. 

Elliot Perry. 1874 to 1875. 

William Edwards, Esq. 1875 to 1877. 

Rev. Joseph P. Sheafe, Jr. 1877 to present. 

Treasurer : 
Jackson Bigelow, Esq. April 14, 1873, to 1875. 

Joshua Parmenter. 1875 to 1877. 

Morton V. B. Bartlett. 1877 to present. 

Custodian : 
William Edwards, Esq. April 14, 1873, to present. 



Offices and Officers. 



125 



Elliot Perry. 
Joshua Parmenter. 
Rev. Samuel D. Hosmer 
Rev. Pearse Pinch. 
Gustavus Smith, Esq. 
Amos P. Cheney. 



Librarian : 

April 14, 1873, to 1874. 

1874 to 1875. 

1875 to 1880. 

1880 to October, 1881. 
October, 1881, to 1882. 
1882 to present. 



Historical Curator : 
Thomas E. Barry, Esq. April 14, 1873, to 1874. 



Joshua Parmenter. 
Elijah Perry, Esq. 
Rev. Samuel D. Hosmer. 
Rev. Pearse Pinch. 
Gustavus Smith, Esq. 



1874 to 1875. 

1875 to 1877. 
1877 to 1880. 

1880 to October, 1881. 
October, 1881, to 1882. 



Curator of Natural History Dcpartuient : 



Elijah Edwards. 
Amory L. Babcock. 

Elliot Perry. Esq. 



April 14, 1873, to 1874. 
1874 to present. 

Auditor : 

1875-7-8, 1 880- 1. 

Board of Directors : 
\ 



President, 

Vice-President, 

Recording Secretary, )■ ex-officiis. 

Corresponding Secretary, ) 

Treasurer, / 

With five others elected as such. 



Joshua Parmenter. 
Amos P. Cheney. 
Gustavus Smith. 
E. P. Plummer. 
William Edwards. 
Amory L. Babcock. 
Frank Sawin. 



Apr. 14, 1 873-4-9-80- 1-2-3-4. 
Apr. 14, 1873-4-5-82. 
" 1873. 

" 1873. 

" 1 873-4-7-8-80- 1 -2-3. 

1874-9-84. 

1874. 



126 Historical, Nar. Hist, and Lib. Socy of South Natick. 

Elijah Perry. 1 875-6-7-8-80-1-3-4. 

Jackson Bigelow. 1875. 

Abel F. Stevens. i875- 

Isaac S. Sewall. i875- 

Rev. Joseph P. Sheafe, Jr. 1876. 

Miss Amanda Miles. 1876. 

Miss Anna F. Clark. 1876-7-8-9. 

Miss Mary E. Kingsbury. 1 876-7-8-9-80-1. 

H. M. Wood worth. 1877-8. 

Herbert L. Morse. 1879-80-1-3. 

Mrs. O. Augusta Cheney. 1882-3-4. 

Joseph E. Selfe. 1882. 

Almond Bailey. 1884. 

Fie Id- Day Cominittces of Arrangements : 
( Elijah Perry, Esq., 

1 88 1. < Joshua Parmenter, Rev. Joseph P. Sheafe, Jr., 

( Rev. Pearse Pinch, Dea. M. V. B. Bartlett. 

S Elijah Perry, Esq., 

Rev. Joseph P. Sheafe, Jr., Amos P. Cheney, 
William Edwards, Esq., Joshua Parmenter. 

i Elijah Perry, Esq., 

1883. < Rev. Joseph P. Sheafe, Jr., George J. Townsend, M.D. 
( Amos P. Cheney, Herbert L. Morse. 



/ 



